Save the Savior
by ladylace616
Summary: AU. Emma went with Lily at the bus stop and they've been together ever since. The Apprentice never showed himself to Lily and they grow up full of questions about their parents. One day, August the mysterious writer moves in next door & is determined to take them on a trip that will change their lives. The question is will it be for better or for worse? On temporary hiatus.
1. Things That Go Bump In The Night

_AU. In this universe, Emma went with Lily at the bus stop and they've been together ever since. The Apprentice never showed himself to Lily and the two girls grow up full of questions about their parents and their beginnings. One day, August the mysterious writer moves in next door. He is determined to take the girls on a trip that will change all of their lives forever. His mission is to get the girls to accompany him to Storybrooke so that they can break a curse. But what of this magnetic attraction he feels towards Emma? Will the mysterious stranger come between the two best friends forever?_

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **Things That Go Bump In The Night**

9 a.m.

Emma was getting ready to go to work as a bail bonds person. She was nice and ripe with sweat from her morning workout and had yet to step into the shower for the morning. The sun had just rose over the horizon and she was in the kitchen, preparing bagels and cream for breakfast for she and her lover. There was a soft white towel draped over the nape of her neck and she wiped her temple with it.

Her sleepy eyed girlfriend shuffled into the kitchenette in nothing but sock clad feet and a flimsy, floral night top moments later with her dark hair in total disarray. "Morning," she mumbled as she padded up the blonde and kissed her on the cheek. Emma smiled and placed a plate of prepared bagels on the tabletop. "Here you go," she said, and bit into her own serving of bagel and strawberry preserves.

Emma was satisfied by her lover, but she sometimes found herself wishing for a more stable life partner. Lily was prone to mistakes and little white lies that eventually turned into more hurtful, bigger ones. She had a history for flirting and cheating but Emma always felt guilty for wanting to leave her. Lily would beg her not to leave for her own sake, pleading what would she do and boo hoos so hard that Emma always relented to her tearful requests. She didn't stay because she wanted to, she stayed because it was comfortable and she wanted to spare her long time friend's feelings.

Lily had seated herself at the kitchenette's small bar and was eating her share. She hummed in approval at the tasty treat and smiled at her girlfriend. "I gotta be going," Emma said, and dropped a kiss on her lover's dark head as she passed to go to the bathroom. After all, she had to wash the stink of her intense boxing session off of her before she showed up at the office.

Freshly showered and dressed in a white button down blouse and gray pants, Emma was on her way out the door and noticed a moving crew right away. There were some burly men hauling a wine red couch and a long, solid wood book case from down the hallway, but no one seemed to be directing them. She supposed someone was finally moving into the apartment next door, which a young college tenant had suddenly vacated when they decided to commit suicide.

"Any idea who's moving in," she questioned another neighbor on her way down in the elevator. The man in a three piece suit shrugged his shoulders, none the wiser than she. "Whoever they are, they must be quite the book worm," he observed conversationally, noticing just how many book shelves were being emptied from the moving truck. Emma Swan shrugged and bid her neighbor goodbye, bounding down the stairs energetically.

8:15 p.m.

At the end of a very long day at work, Emma was ready for a night cap. She'd been cramped up in her yellow bug on a stake out for the past several hours, waiting for a very influential congressman to exit the home of her mistress and snap a couple pictures. With evidence, she would be paid handsomely and her work for the evening would be done. She had waited an eternity for the man to finish up, only to realize too late that he had slipped out the back door and beat a hasty yet discrete exit. This particular case was requiring quite a lot of forward thinking on her part because her target was always so careful. She'd have to pick up the investigation in a couple days once he worked up the hunger for his pretty young secretary once more.

Defeated and feeling a little down, Emma dragged herself to the local watering hole just down around the block from her apartment. Lily would no doubt be at her job bartending across town until late, so she wouldn't miss the blonde. She hadn't missed her in awhile, Emma darkly reflected to herself as she found herself seated at the bar, nursing a whiskey sour.

She drank in brooding silence for about twenty minutes before a leather clad gentleman slid onto the stool next to her. She was in no mood for cheesy pick up lines, even if they were delivered by a guy with a chiseled jaw covered in stubble and beautifully striking, ice blue eyes. In spite of herself, she found herself throwing glances out the corner of her eye at him when he gave no indication of her presence. He was drinking a dark lager beer with a white paper napkin stuck to the side of the frosty beverage by its condensation. "Long day?" She finally asked, breaking the pregnant silence that had stretched between them. They were the only two at the far side of the bar and she thought a little small talk wouldn't hurt. "Nah, I wouldn't quite say that. I work for myself, so work rarely gets in the way for me," he explained. Emma rose an eyebrow curiously at his cryptic answer. "What kind of work do you do?" she asked. She ordered another cocktail and waited for his response.

The air was thick with stale cigarette smoke, and the handsome stranger reached into a bowl of nuts. He started breaking peanut casings and Emma watched as he accumulated a small pile on the sticky bar top as he talked. "I write for magazines, do interviews, tell behind the scenes true stories," he explained. "Like for a band, Behind the Music?" she asked him, a little teasing flirtation creeping into her tone. She clearly didn't think much of programs like MTV and the stranger flashed a wolfish grin her way.

"No, not like behind the music. Shoot me if I ever have to catalog the many groupies and STDs of a so-called great band member, will you," he joked. He clearly shared her opinion that such insipid details were not worth reading, let alone writing about. "What do you write about then?" she questioned.

The stranger paused to look around the bar, and leaned in conspiratorially towards the beautiful, green eyed blonde. "Heroes and Villains," he said in a stage whisper, and drained the rest of his dark lager. He went to stand and pulled a bill out of his wallet in his hip pocket and placed it on the bar top. "It was nice to meet you...?" he trailed off so that she might supply her name. Emma found she was a little disappointed he was leaving so soon. "Emma," she told him. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Emma," he reiterated, and started towards the door suddenly.

"Hey!" She called after him. He turned towards her, and she noticed for the first time he had a motorcycle helmet with him and it was curled in the crook of his arm."I don't think I caught your name," she asked, and the handsome stranger smirked. "That's 'cause I didn't give it," he retorted and swung towards the exit without another word.

 _Rude_ , Emma thought to herself and scowled over her drink. It was about time she head home, even though Lily wouldn't be home for a couple hours. She was still pretty beat after her long day. Emma walked the short block back to her apartment with a slight buzz and when she got home, she shed her leather jacket and tall boots and peeled off her tight jeans, ready to fall into bed. She wrapped a fluffy turquoise robe around herself and burrowed in under the covers in the dark of her and Lily's shared bedroom.

After 12 a.m.

Later that night, Lily snuck into the apartment quiet as a whisper. She unbraided her long dark hair and it rested in waves on her shoulders as she got ready for bed. She changed into a light purple nightgown and slid some knee high socks on to battle the cold of the apartment's wood floors. She slid under their bright yellow duvet covers behind Emma and spooned her from behind, wrapping her arms around her exquisite girlfriend. She kissed the side of Emma's ear before she drifted off to sleep.

Not long after she fell asleep, the couple were awakened by a very loud bang next door. Their new neighbor was already a nuisance past 2 in the morning. They could hear what Emma swore was the sound of someone hammering next door on the wall near the head of their bed. "No way," Emma growled, irritated to be deprived of her beauty sleep. "I'm putting a stop to this right now," she snapped after a second and third thump on the wall. Clearly, this tenant had no manners or sense at all! They were going to get an earful from her and a piece of her mind if it was the last thing she did.

"You stay here," Emma reassured her groggy lover and dropped a chaste kiss on her chapped lips. She squeezed her shoulder as she climbed out of bed in her turquoise robe. Her hair was disheveled from sleeping so long and she didn't bother to run a comb through it so determined she was to stop the incessant banging going on next door. She slammed her door a little too hard behind her as she stepped into the hall and started hammering on the new next door neighbor's door with both her fists to gain their attention. She could bang just as hard as them, she'd show them!

The door swung open to reveal the handsome stranger from earlier. "You!" she cried, pointing an accusing finger at him. "First you're rude to me in the bar, now you're banging on walls at 3 in the morning?!" she demanded, hand resting on her cocked hip with attitude. The stranger blanched and looked at the offending hammer in his hand. "My bad," he said, and his voice had a bit of a slur to it. His eyes were glassy and his smile widened toothily. "If I'd known you'd stalk me and bang down my door to learn my name, I would've spared you the trouble and told you earlier," he teased. Emma colored at his accusation, and rolled her eyes, pointing at her front door next door. "I live there, you idiot," she exasperatedly said.

The stranger chuckled at her insult and opened his door wider, offering her passage into his new home. "Let me make it up to you, I didn't realize I was being so loud. Let me pour you a drink," he said. He gestured behind him and Emma saw he had a fully stocked bar in the corner of the living room. She also noticed he had unpacked little else thus far. She considered him suspiciously for a minute, but ultimately accepted his invitation and shuffled into his apartment. She didn't have to be into work until the afternoon the next day for an ongoing investigation, so she figured one drink wouldn't hurt.

"What'll you have, Ms. Emma?" her host asked, and for the first time, she noticed he was favoring his right leg as he made his way to the bar. Perhaps it was only because he was drunk, she thought, as she sank down onto the red couch she'd seen the moving men carrying in earlier. It was plush and velvet textured, and she watched fascinated as the material left a groove after her fingers brushed it. "Whiskey, neat," she replied and her host obliged her, limping over to the couch and seating himself on the far side with his own drink after he handed her her own. He was seated a comfortable distance away and Emma felt at ease enough to sip her own beverage.

"Well, are you gonna tell me your name or is this some kind of annoying guessing game," she asked, teasing him. "August W. Booth," he finally replied. "Really? With the middle initial?" she asked incredulously. "W is for Wayne," he said with a pleasing grin. "Is that your pseudonym, or your real name?" Emma asked after a long, thoughtful sidelong glance at him. He took a sip from his own drink and relished the vodka burning its way down his throat. Emma could always tell when someone was holding something back, and she sensed this mysterious stranger had more to tell than meets the eye. "That's my real name," he claimed and Emma leveled a shrewd look his way.

"Look, you're new here, so I'll go ahead and tell you now," she said, leaning in close conspiratorially as he had done her only a few hours prior. "But I kind of have this super power, and I can always tell when someone is lying." She said with a superior grin, and August gave her a tight lipped smile in return. "Is that so?" he asked, and his eyes looked clear through her despite the fact she knew judging by the scent of him that he'd been binge drinking since she'd last seen him until now. In the bar, she hadn't noticed his smell mixed with all the other bar odors, but he definitely had the stale body odor of someone whose pores emanated the stuff.

August was dressed in blue plaid pajama pants and a grey t-shirt that hugged the planes of his chest. Emma could clearly make out the shape of his pecs as the grey shirt clung to him and she became acutely aware of what a mess she must look all of a sudden. When he went to get a refill, she hastily clawed at her messy hair with his back turned and sat her half-finished tumbler on the ground, since he didn't have any other furniture in the living room besides unpacked boxes. She noticed on the ground were multiple boxes labeled books and he had a few dozen already strewn around the apartment. She felt attracted to the knowledge he was well read and yearned to get a closer look at the titles of his books. What was he interested in, what was so interesting about this stranger and his cryptic style of talk? Why did she get the feeling this was not the last time she would be in this apartment?

Emma cleared her throat and stood up. "I'd actually better get going, August," she said rather formally and held the neck of her robe tightly closed as she approached the front door. "I'll see you around," he said, almost sounding like a promise. "I'll try to keep it down." She closed his front door behind her and left him to his night owl hours, slipping back into bed with her long time girlfriend.

Lily rolled away from Emma when she got back into bed and hogged all the covers. Emma slept fitfully the rest of the night and sleep came hard as she considered her sexy next door neighbor. She had gotten shy all of a sudden, and that was rare for Emma. Self conscious was usually not her style, but she'd gotten the feeling he was studying her far too intently and she was all too aware of the state of her undress. Emma fell asleep figuring she'd figure him out later in the sober light of day. It's not like he was going anywhere.

* * *

 **A/N:** What do you think about this angle? I absolutely ship Dragon Swan (eh? catching on anybody?) LilyxEmma is so cannon to me, feel free to let me know any constructive criticism or ideas. This story is going to span season 1 with a few tweaks and diverge season 2. I've been updating this story at a pace of every 7-10 days, so keep that in mind while you read/follow/favorite :)


	2. Three's Company

**Chapter 2**

 **Three's Company**

 _12 p.m. Afternoon_

August awoke to strong beams of sunlight reflecting on his face through his curtainless windows. He had fallen asleep on his couch in the living room and his tongue was fuzzy from drinking and his head thick and groggy. He stumbled from the couch, successfully kicking over an empty bottle of Greygoose vodka on his way to the bathroom to brush his teeth and possibly relieve himself of his hangover.

After retching unsuccessfully over the toilet for a solid 10 minutes, he concluded he simply had nothing to part with in his belly and resolved to remedy that matter. He jumped into a scalding hot shower behind a clear shower curtain and let the hot water slide down his aching muscles from sleeping on the uncomfortable couch. He made a mental note to make up his bed tonight and set up his work station at least. He'd been consumed with filling all his bookshelves last night, and let other basic necessities such as kitchen appliances and food fall by the wayside.

He was reminded of that fact when he shuffled into his kitchen in his bare feet with a towel wrapped around his lower body to peer in the fridge. He had neglected to go shopping yet, having opted to visit the liquor store instead for his own private house warming party the night before.

August sighed and rolled his neck to get the kinks out of it. _I'll just have to go out for lunch,_ he concluded and went into the bedroom to get ready. He wore a white button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to expose his finely haired forearms. He wore faded jeans and a belt and a grey vest hanging open when his look was completed.

He grabbed in hand the handle of a thick, wooden case and hauled it with him as he made his way downstairs and started walking towards a nearby park he'd seen. There were some stone benches under the sun dappled trees that suited his temperament and he settled himself there after he bought a hot dog from a vendor on the side of the road, wooden box at his side.

That was when he spotted Emma the blonde again, and all his hazy memories from the night before came slamming back into him. He remembered in a drunken stupor trying to hang some shelves from the wall in the middle of the night and someone coming to bang just as ferociously on his door. He opened the door to a very frazzled, crazy haired Emma standing before him. His first thought was her robe was incredibly cute on her, and August colored as he sat alone at the park, thinking about their flirtation from the night before. Although August had come to this city specifically in search of The Savior, he had never expected to find Emma so quickly as given as she was to relocating. It was just his luck that she was living with Lily and he was able to find them in the same place.

The last time August saw the pair was years ago. His search for Emma had led him to Emma almost a decade before. He had convinced her no good lover at the time who was proving to be a bad influence to abandon her. He couldn't allow Baelfire to take her to the opposite side of the United States, that would never work. His sources needed him to bring Emma to the realm of Storybrooke and if she got married and started a life with that low life, she would never be happy or stable, or secure. At that, August felt a twinge of guilt when he considered the car keys and money Baelfire had wanted to give her.

August had never claimed to be a saint, he was anything but. He had used the money to launch a world tour and travel to Thailand and try to leave his troubles behind. He wanted to concentrate on writing but wound up immersed in women he paid for sex and bar tabs that spiraled out of control the longer he stayed in that land. He squirreled away the money Baelfire gave him and used it to live on during his efforts to forget how he'd screwed Emma, landing her in prison for the next eleven months. At least he would know where to find her, he had reasoned in his drug filled haze.

After she was released from the penitentiary in Phoenix, there was a brief period in which he lost her and had to go searching once more. He returned late from over seas to discover Emma had already been released months prior to her release date. She had that yellow bug, the meager belongings she had from her time with Neal, and nothing else to her name in the world. She made tracks outside the state and made her way south to Tallahasee somehow.

When August found her again, she was living in a duplex with Lilith the offspring of Maleficent the dragon. In his brief time with The Apprentice, August had been instructed that Lily was an integral part of Emma's fate and that the two should not be separated for any reason. Their friendship assuaged the sorcerer's guilt over having darkened both their lives. At the very least, they could have each other. August promised responsibility of getting both of the girls to Storybrooke, so that they could learn the nature of their true fates. He kept tabs on the two girls who stayed on for quite some time in the sunshine state. It was the longest the two girls stayed in any one place. When they decided to up and leave in the middle of the night one night, August lost them again and spent years looking for them.

Once he'd found this time, the first step to getting the girls to believe in him and accompany him to Storybrooke was to establish a relationship with the both of them. He'd already got his foot in the door with the beautiful blonde, but the deal was he had to get them both to come to Storybrooke with him. When he spotted the couple taking a seat at an intricately carved wooden bench near a stone fountain with ice cream in hand, talking animatedly, he took it upon himself to go and introduce himself to Emma's other half, Lilith.

"Hey August," Emma said as she recognized the tall frame of her mysterious next door neighbor. "Beautiful day out," he said as he approached and came to a stop in front of the couple. "Hey Lily, this is the newest and loudest addition to our apartments, August Booth," Emma said with a smug grin and August reddened at her comment but smiled abashedly. "Oh, so _that_ was you," Lily said with a welcoming grin and August chuckled.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I just got caught up putting a few of my things away," he explained and Lily invited him to sit on the bench near them. "It's okay, we know how that is," she said. "Hi, I'm Lily," she introduced herself as he took a seat and continued, "We do a lot of moving around ourselves." "So where did you come from?" the brunette asked, eyebrow cocked curiously. In one hand she held her chocolate ice cream cone, and her other hand rested in Emma's lap as they held hands.

"Just got back from over seas," he answered casually. "That's pretty wicked," Lily commented, and her attention was captured by the beautiful wooden box August was carrying with him, positioned at his feet. "What's in the box, Handsome?" Lily asked, flirting with her new neighbor as she took a lick from her chocolate ice cream cone. August raised his eyebrows in sexual intrigue and leaned down to pick up the box, putting it in between them as he undid the latch on the front of it. He pulled back the lid to reveal an old, authentic type writer concealed within its depth.

"I don't know if Emma told you," he said, closing the box and fastening the latch back again, "but I'm a writer and my work often times sends me on trips half way across the world." August was purposefully vague about his whereabouts. A fact that did not escape Emma, her brow furrowed curiously and she wondered what he had to gain from being so secretive? "What country did you visit," she started to ask, but August was already standing to excuse himself. "Bit of everywhere, really. If you'll forgive me, I have someplace to be," he briefly said, and dipped his head in goodbye. The girls watched him as he walked away, wooden box in hands, and knew it wouldn't be the last they would see him. Or, at least, they hoped. Emma was incredibly intrigued by the stranger, and Lily agreed he was certainly mysterious.

 _8:30 pm_

Hours later, Emma and Lily were back at home. It was Lily's night off, and Emma was done for the day. They had only met for lunch earlier and Lily was glad to have her beautiful blonde girlfriend back in her arms. They planned on a movie night with pop corn, and Lily had just finished up in the kitchen where she'd been cooking dinner for the two of them. She had just pulled an apple pie out of the oven, intending it for a house warming gift for their new neighbor. She had made angel hair pasta with alfredo and shrimp for her lady and Emma smiled and kissed her on the lips, looping her arms around Lily.

Lily dimmed the lights and lit long candlesticks on the dining room table. She had put out place mats for their meal and they were just sitting down to eat when they heard a loud 'thump' next door and the sound of something crashing. Emma and Lily looked at one another, and Lily suddenly stood up and headed towards their door, recognizing that the crash had come from next door. Emma rolled her eyes and shook her head, disappointed that their noisy neighbor was once again interrupting them and followed her lover out into the hall.

They came to August's front door, and found it unlocked as they let themselves in. August was laying on the floor next to a step ladder, and his living room looked much nicer than the night before. Accompanying the wine red couch, August had black accent pieces of furniture such as a coffee table and entertainment stand that a large flat screen TV was featured in. There was a round table with two chairs in the corner and his book shelves that lined the far wall were almost full, in fact, that seems to have been what August was up to when he took a fall. There was a statue broke into pieces on the ground beside him, and he looked up when the two girls entered.

"Hey, sorry about that," he groaned, picking himself up off the floor. His voice had the tell-tale sign of drinking and Emma's eyes swept the place and found a bottle of Jack not far from the sight of his fall. "Your leg bothering you again," the blonde asked, and August seated himself on the couch with a loud sigh, nodding his head.

His face was screwed up into a pained grimace. "You have no idea," he muttered to himself, knowing that the woman standing in front of him was the only one who could help him. His leg throbbed again, as it had when he was standing on the step ladder, and in his drunken state when he went to clutch at it, he had ended up on the floor and knocked the vase off the shelf as he lost his purchase and fell.

"What happened to your leg?" Lily asked, coming to sit beside August on the couch in concern. Her eyes were round and large with worry and August rubbed his leg tenderly. He didn't like to talk about it, especially since the change could only be seen if you truly believed in magic. He knew if he revealed his bare leg to the girls, they would see no cause for concern so he learned to tell a lie in place of the truth. "It's a degenerative muscle disease," he explained in a low voice, his face turned downward and his eyes averted. He didn't like for others to know he lived in pain. No one could know the real reason for the pain was that his leg was turning to wood below the knee cap.

Only he could fix it. He had been tasked with watching over Emma and ensuring she would go on to save her parents and the entire kingdom. Ever since he had abandoned the Princess as a little boy, his life had been one mistake after the other and he spent years running from the knowledge he'd failed her miserably. Only he had the answers to all their questions and he was finally willing to own up to that fact. He was willing to lead them to their parents salvation now and needed the girls to trust him. Once they believed in him, he could get them both to Storybrooke and get the help he so desperately needed. That was his hope, anyway.

"Is there anything we can get you?" Lily asked, placing her hand on his arm. His lucid blue eyes looked instantly relieved and he asked for a cup of water. "Emma, go get that pie we made him," Lily asked of her girlfriend as she went to get him water and Emma slowly turned on her heel to go fetch the baked treat. While she was in their apartment, she looked back wistfully at their abandoned meal and the melting candles on the glass dining room table. She blew them out with a sigh and brought the pie back to the apartment next door.

When she returned the living room, August was sitting on the couch with his legs stretched across it and Lily was perched on the arm of the chair, about to hand him an ice bag for his leg. While she was gone, Lily had gotten August to talking about where he'd lived before here and his kind of lifestyle. "I'm kind of a lone wolf," he admitted. "I can never shake that wander lust," he told them. "I get bored in one place all the time. Seeing the same people, day in and day out never really interested me." Lily chuckled and slyly teased August, "That doesn't sound very conducive to long term relationships for you, hm?" August rolled his eyes comically at her. "That remains to be seen," he said, a smirk on his dashing face. "What about you girls? How long have you been travelling together?" he asked.

Emma helped herself to the kitchen, from which she could still hear the other two talking in the living room. She went to the white island in the center of the kitchen and started looking for utensils to cut the apple pie with. She found a box on the counter contained the plates he'd yet unpacked and realized how much there still was to put away. "Emma and I go back years, to our teenage years. So tell us something August, where's a guy like you come from originally?"

"I was raised out west. When I was a kid my dad died. Any family Dad once had was long gone with him, so I got placed in a home, and a few after that," he replied. Emma walked back into the room, and went to seat herself at the dining room table in the corner with the pie and some plates, utensils in hand. She recognized the look on Lily's face as she came towards her to get some of the apple pie. She shared a knowing look with her partner and Emma could tell Lily was ready to tell all. Emma thought about the slur in August's voice and the way he put away the liquor and sadly wondered what had happened to him in his time in the system. They all had their own horror stories. "Where was your mother?" Emma asked.

"Never knew her. Dad said that he didn't need her, and left it at that," August replied matter-of-factly. He shrugged his shoulders and Emma's eyes narrowed imperceptibly. "He never told you anything else about her?" Emma pushed, unable to believe any kid looking for answers about their absent parents would be able to 'leave it at that.'

August turned his head to look at her across the room and she was struck yet again by his chiseled jaw and his clear, blue eyes that seemed to look right through her. "She was younger than him, beautiful, and she was a bartender. He said she had a heart like a gypsy, and could never stay in one place. One day, she just decided to give us both up." He said meaningfully, looking at Emma. "Sound familiar?"

Emma stayed quiet as Lily gushed, "We've traveled all over America looking for our parents. Emma and me grew up in the system, too." Normally the girls weren't so forthcoming with details about their lives, but Emma knew Lily well enough to know Augusts' shared experience in the foster care system was enough for Lily to consider him one of their own, part of their own little weird "lost kids" clique.

However, something about their new neighbor was rubbing Emma the wrong way. She was impatient to get back to their apartment, but Lily had already dolled out the pie and they were apparently staying for dessert. She found herself reluctantly admitting, "I was found abandoned on the side of the road one day. I had a family until I was three, then they had one of their own and they sent me back."

Lily, seated at the chair next to her, placed her hand over Emma's and gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I was found the same way, abandoned, and a family took me in," she told August. "I was with them until I was fourteen, and then I found Emma," she said, "and my life got brighter. I never felt like anyone cared about me, and I realized the reason when she came into my life. I belonged with her."

"Seems like a dream come true. You two seem very happy together," August remarked from his seat on the couch and never felt more lonely. Here these two girls had each other, and he was on the outside looking in, ready to smash their lives apart if he could just get them to Storybrooke. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell them the truth and get them the hell out of there as quick as possible, and it took considerable restraint not to dump everything on them then and there. He knew that his mission was going to take time and finesse, and he found himself frustrated.

When he was frustrated, charming as the apple pie was, he wanted a drink. "I hope you don't mind, girls, but I'd rather have a drink instead. Help yourself to the bar," he said, gesturing towards it. "As long as you don't mind pouring me some of that Jack there, that is," he added, smiling wolfishly at Emma. Lily went to rinse their dishes, and Emma poured all of them drinks at the bar.

By the end of the night, August could tell that Lily had taken a shine to him. He had his legs stretched out on the couch and Lily was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, back pressed against it for support. She was drinking from her wine glass and Emma collected the glass from her, announcing their imminent departure. They'd been drinking red wine courtesy of August all night while they got to know him. Although Emma seemed suspicious of him most of the evening, August had high hopes for the two ladies as they made their exit.

 _After 12 am_

The two girls stumbled home together, and Lily set to work putting away their abandoned meal from earlier. She felt rather than heard Emma come up behind her, intent on distracting her from her task. Emma had been patiently waiting all night for them to get back to their apartment. Truthfully, she was a little resentful of August for taking up so much of their time. If it were up to her, they would have been in their current position _much_ sooner.

As it was, Emma had cornered her lover against the kitchen counter and trailed kisses down the curve of her neck. Lily tilted her head to give Emma better access and hummed her approval, turning in Emma's arms. They shared a kiss that was playful and cloying, and suddenly Emma was deepening the kiss passionately. She grabbed her lover by the wrist and lead her back to the bedroom, where they left the yellow sheets tangled in the afterglow of their heated love making session.

Truth be told, sex had never been the problem between Lily and Emma. The two of them physically were on par and both held active gym memberships. They liked the same interests and shared the same sense of humor, but differed on one matter entirely. Emma could be trusted, and Lily often bent the rules. The one fundamental aspect of their relationship they lacked was trust, and Emma had come to the realization in recent months that she couldn't overlook the fact that Lily could be a liar. She never trusted Lily completely, and wondered when the next time one of Lily's selfish actions would land her in trouble. She was used to facing the world with Lily by her side, but the truth was, Lily had caused a lot of the hardships she had to endure over the years.

One of the first bad decisions that led to the two teenage girl's separation before they were 15 was when Lily got caught shoplifting. Emma reluctantly decided to flee the city with Lily after her robbery of the chore wheel family, and they managed to relocate to California by riding out of town on a Greyhound bus.

Once they arrived, the two girls were thick as thieves and worked on money making schemes, delighting in all the mischief they got into whenever they were together. It was Lily's first time to go shoplifting on her own one day, and she was apprehended by the police. Social services were called, and Lily just never came back to the house they were squatting in. Emma was left all alone again, and she had forgotten how lonely it was to be on her own.

As winter came, Emma entered a bleak period and barely ate. She would scavenge for food when she had the energy, but mostly tried to avoid being seen. She succeeded until one day that winter she contracted a high fever and passed out in the city park and a kind samaritan passing by called an ambulance. Social services came to wreck her life once more, and that was when she was placed in Sarah Fisher's home. She thought she had finally found someone to love her, and it turned out she only loved her because she was crazy enough to; honestly, spouting about magic, and whatnot.

Emma emancipated herself after she ran from the Fisher home. She stayed in Minnesota for a year after. She started working in a grocery store as a cashier and in her spare time, she posed as a model for university art students to practice on. Occasionally, she went home with one of the university students, but always instituted a "love 'em and leave 'em" policy. She had a string of lovers over the next couple years and bounced from place to place until she ended up in Oregon.

She'd been living there almost a year in a tiny apartment she shared with a girl who had a greasy, tattooed boyfriend. One day, the greasy boyfriend tried to hit on Emma and kiss her, and her roommate came in and assumed the worst. Finding herself kicked out on the streets, Emma decided to skip town and was trying to obtain the method of transportation for her trip when she discovered the sleeping Neal in the backseat of the yellow bug she'd just stolen. Once she met Neal, she discovered the person who would accompany her on her journey and change her life forever.

Emma thought about the souvenir from their time together, and wondered how the baby could be doing. Lily knew nothing about the baby she'd given up in prison. It was a wound too close to her heart to tell, too raw to heal. Emma didn't trust anyone with that information, and was glad that she had opted for a closed adoption. She acted as though it had never happened, and hoped that she would never have to reveal the skeletons in her closet. She wondered if she was keeping such a secret from Lily, what secrets could her lover be keeping from her in turn?

These thoughts helped sleep elude her until late into the night.

* * *

 _A/N: It might be just a little slow in the beginning here, but I'm just fleshing out the background for you. Hang in there, I promise we'll see some wooden swan action in the chapters to come. Have patience :)_


	3. Late Night Confessions

_Disclaimer: Once Upon A Time and the characters within do not belong to me, and I do not profit from this story in any way._

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

 **Late Night Confessions**

A few weeks later, Emma and Lily were going on vacation to visit the Hamptons. They had some rich lesbian friends that shared a time share at a quaint bungalow near the sea. As fate would have it, Lily had something of a green thumb in this world and had many window box flowers and wild things like vines growing in her little window garden. She showed up next door at August's around lunch time the day before the trip, her pretty brow creased in a troubled fashion when he opened the door to greet her.

"Ah, Lily," he said, gesturing for her to come inside. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Call me crazy, but I have a knack for sensing a damsel in distress," he said knowingly, going to plop down in his computer chair. Lily stood before him, her hands clasped in a pleading fashion. "August, Emma and I are heading out to the Hamptons _tomorrow_ and I completely forgot to ask someone to come and water my plants while we're gone."

The writer quirked his eyebrow curiously, secretly thinking about the glass of liquor in the kitchen. Did this woman not see him? He could barely take care of himself, let alone take care of green things that absolutely needed care and attention, two things he didn't have much left of. Yet he knew by the desperate look on her face that he was about to agree to whatever she asked of him.

"Will you do it, please?"

The writer rolled his eyes and gave a put-upon sigh, wickedly teasing his next door neighbor. "I suppose I could do this for you just this one time... but what will you do for me in return?" He asked coyly, flirting with the brunette. "I'll owe you one," she said and gave him a heart warming smile and bounded over to him, leaning down to wrap his muscular shoulders in a brief hug. "You only have to water them a cup of water every two and half days. It'll only take a second," she told him.

She reached into the pocket of her tight fitting denim jeans and pulled out a key to their apartment attached to a swan keychain. "That's Emma's extra, so don't lose it, ok? She'd kill me," the woman said as she handed it over. "It's safe with me," he promised. "How long are you girls goin' to be gone?" he asked.

"A week and a half," the brunette replied. "Oh good, that gives me plenty of time to fornicate on all your furniture while you're out," he quipped. Lily's eyes widened and she swatted at August's chest. "You perv!" she said, outaged, but delighted by his racey sense of humor.

"You'd better not!" August's blue eyes twinkled as he winked at the brunette. "Alright, you got me. I'll limit my use to red heads only," he teased. "August, so help me if I catch a whiff of sex when I return," she threatened idly as she headed to the front door. "Be good!" she called as she shut the door.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

August used his opportunity alone in the girl's apartment to his best advantage. He tried to learn more about the girls as tools for persuasion. He looked at the pictures scattered around the living room, exclusively shots of just the two girls. There were no family or friends to speak of in any of the pictures.

There were pictures of the girls they'd obviously shot themselves, up close and selfie style as they both beamed, or one kissed the other's cheek. In one photo, the two girls were deliciously tanned looking in matching cut off shorts with a beach at their backsides. In one picture, Emma wore a green bicyclist's outfit and matching helmet on a city street. In another picture, Lily stood in a puffy purple coat holding a snowboard with snow caps and mountains in the background. The two girls certainly were well traveled.

August was determined to take them on another trip. He searched for clues that the two girls were getting used to the routine in this place, a sure sign that they would be leaving soon. He noticed in the bedside drawers that Lily had marital aids and Emma had binoculars, half finished to-do lists, and pens everywhere. A cursory glance through their closet suggested Lily wore sheer, pretty things to bed and Emma opted for a more boyish look. He found several long t-shirts and boy cut panties in Emma's things.

He almost didn't forget Lily's plants most of the time. He started out doing a good job, having went on the second day they were gone. But after that, August got holed up at home writing on his vintage type writer for a couple days. While the girls were away, he found himself visiting the bar at night and went home with a few women during their absence.

Four days went by and the plants slipped his mind, and it was almost too late by the time he rememberd. After his close call, he paid more attention to his duties and started staying long enough to brew coffee in Emma and Lily's fancy cappicinno machine. One day towards the end of their hiatus, he decided to bring a very important piece of the puzzle over to their apartment and purposefully left a huge volume of story book fairytales on the girl's living room table to be easily discovered. It remained there, until his neighbors' return.

It was hard to miss the girl's arrival back home. The girls got home late at night, bumping and thumping in the apartment next door as they acclimated themselves back to home. There was silence for awhile, but eventually August started to hear raised voices next door. He didn't see the girls right away. A few days went past, and each night he heard raised voices in the apartment next door. He heard the sound of something breaking one night, but knew better than to go interfere. He regretted the trip had not gone better for the two.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

A week after the girls return, August discovered Emma at a cafe near their apartment, reading over an old and familiar book. It was the story book August left in their apartment. Before Emma took notice of him with her golden head bent over the book, he watched her from afar and saw the cute way she worried her lower lip with her teeth.

It was endearing and so adorable, the way she concentrated on the words before her and paid little heed to her surroundings. Her eyes staring down at the page were red rimmed and puffy from crying. The writer knew Emma well enough to know she'd just finished her morning run and was avoiding returning to her apartment, like she had been all week. What she didn't know was she needn't worry, Lily had been avoiding the apartment like the plague as well.

As August approached Emma, he caught her attention by calling out, "Don't worry, the coast is clear!" Emma looked up at the swaggering frame of her next door neighbor, startled out of her reverie. She cleared her throat and asked, "What?" She narrowing her puffy eyes at him suspiciously. "What're you talkin' about?" she asked.

"It's safe for you to head on home. I happen to know your other half isn't at home right now," August informed her. Emma glanced at the watch on her wrist curiosly. "How do you know?" August dropped into the chair across from her. "Because I've just came from my apartment," he answered and his blue eyes swept evaluatingly over Emma. Sadly, the blonde had seen better days.

"How do you know I'm avoiding her?" Emma asked, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning back in her chair. She was itching for a challenge, a distraction from her case of the blues, and he was just the man the give it to her. August gave her a pointed look with those clear blue eyes of his and Emma found herself distracted by the way he pursed his lips and the stubble on his chin. "I have ears, don't I?" he asked. Emma narrowed her eyes at him. "Trouble in paradise?" he inquired knowingly.

"I'm not in the mood to talk about it," she grated out in a low, angry voice and August leaned backward, tapping his fingers on the table. "Alright, alright, truce," he called. He tilted his head to the side as he regarded the blonde. "What are you reading?" he asked, changing the subject entirely. Emma appreciated the change in topic and obliged him. "These are fairytales, only they're not like they always were written when I was a kid," she explained. She flipped through a few of the pages, passing many colorful illustrations.

"Is this yours?" she asked. "It was on our table when we got home," Emma explained and August answered,"Oh yeah, now I recognize that old thing. I must have left it over there." Emma started to shut the book and give it back to him, but August stuck his finger in the book to hold her place. "It's no trouble, keep it for awhile," he said with a friendly grin on his face.

She didn't know what to make of his open availability to her, how he wanted to know more about her, and dared to get closer to her. She usually didn't have or need friends and he was proving to be an exception to the matter. Despite his cryptic answers and half truths, Emma sensed that she had a friend in the strange writer.

"Have you got a chance to read much of it?" August asked about the book. Emma looked down at the page she was on, and it happened to be a story about Red Riding Hood. "I'm on the one about Red the werewolf," she said, leaning in towards August. "It's so weird that in this version, she's the wolf! Ate her own boyfriend," the blonde said with a laugh. The waitress came by and refilled Emma's coffee mug, and August asked for an omelet.

"What if those stories turned out to be true?" August asked Emma hypothetically, testing the waters. "That they really happened?" Emma asked, and if her eyebrows could have met her hairline they would've. "You'd feel pretty bad if you were her, just having ate your boyfriend and all, so you shouldn't laugh," he chided her and Emma frowned. "Oh please. And Hogwarts is real,too," she guffawed.

"Like there really used to be princes and princesses that wake up from some weird curse because some freak goes around kissing people in their sleep?" She scoffed and laughed at the thought. Her life was a modern fairytale, and modern fairytales had no happy endings. As a writer, she felt it only right that August shouldn't have any misconceptions about them or their reality. "Sometimes bad things happen to good people for no good reason and the good guys don't always win. If only," she sighed wistfully.

"Geez, sorry I asked Ms. Glass Half-Empty," August said defensively, and beamed flirtatiously at the waitress when she came back with his order. He winked at her as she set it down and commented, "Just what the doctor ordered" as he started to dig in. "Let me guess, yours is half full," she presumed. August grinned toothily at her and Emma raised an eyebrow. "You mean you believe in magic or something?" Emma asked, darting a dsitracted glance at her new friend as she eyed the waitress walking away. She needed to know now if her new friend was one sandwich short of a picnic basket.

"I figure it's important as a writer to keep an open mind," he cryptically answered and bit into his eggs. Emma flipped through the pages of his book in silence without looking up for a few minutes as he ate, trying to remain nonchalant. "I bet you believe in aliens, too," she mockingly said at length, leaning across the table to tease him. Her green eyes sparkled with a little sign of mischief which was much better than the sad and dejected look she wore before he got to the table. If it was at his expense, so be it. But some day, he would find a way to convince Emma Swan.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

 _After Midnight, Last Call_

August was at the bar he'd first met the Savior in his first night in town. Unlike his first visit, this stint at the bar was proving to be much lengthier and the writer was well in his cups by the end of the night. He groaned when the bartender asked for his motorcycle keys. "C'mon, man, don't be like that," he complained as the bartender crossed his muscled arms and refused to relent. He was Chinese in descent but well-toned and buff, and August was not much of a fighter. He relinquished his keys.

The bartender wouldn't pour him any more drinks. August was left to drunkenly hang onto the bar and sway on his bar stool. "You got anybody to call?" the bartender kept asking him, but August only shook his head. There was no one to call. There was no one who cared about him, or even remembered him. His arms were crossed and his forehead laying against them as a pillow when he felt a friendly hand on his back, patting him reassuringly. "August, doll, we gotta move you," he heard and looked up, bleary eyed but glad to see his friend and neighbor, Lily.

Lily had been intending to go get black out drunk herself when she spotted her friend had beaten her to it. She sighed and put her plans on the back burner as she went to the bar to make sure her friend was okay. The bartender she knew by Chris informed her, "He's cut off" in a stern voice. "Don't worry, I'll get him home," she said, and collected his bike keys from the bartender. She put the writer's leather clad arm around her shoulder and hefted him out of his seat with little assistance from him.

A bouncer helped Lily get August into her car. "Ugh, Auggie, you drunk," she said with disgust once she got him stuffed into the backseat. "What's got you in such a state," she questioned herself under her breath, peering into the backseat using the rear view mirror as she drove the short distance home. August was laying face down on the pleather seat, stubble rubbing against the seat as he groaned drunkenly, the contents of his stomach swishing around as Lily made turns in the car.

He retched when Lily opened the car door just in time. They were parked on the street and he hurled onto the concrete near her feet. "Oh!" she exclaimed, barely side stepping the mess and crying out girlishly. "Ew!" August felt much better after emptying the contents of his stomach, and he let Lily drag him out of the car from the opposite car door. He stumbled through the door to their apartment complex and leaned on her as they rode up the elevator together.

Lily somehow managed to skillfully hold the grown man up and used his keys to get into his apartment. "Ugh, let's get you cleaned up," Lily said as she flicked on the light switch. She lowered him onto the wine red couch and proceeded into his bedroom to get him a fresh t-shirt. In his small bathroom, she found some blue hand rags and rinsed one under cold water, bringing everything into the living room with her.

She wiped August's mouth and face with the cold hand rag and August let her, soothed by someone taking care of him. "Auggie, change your shirt for me," Lily said to him as she turned her back, heading towards the kitchen. In his drunk state, August struggled out of his leather jacket and managed to pull off his dark blue t-shirt. There was some sick near the collar of it, and he tossed it aside with distaste.

Lily reentered the living room to a shirtless Augst, and admired the chest hair on his pecs. She held a glass of water in hand and approached August, sitting on the couch beside him. "What's got you so upset, huh?" she questioned softly, offering him the water. "You can tell me, I'm your friend," she reassured him when he took the water, gratefully gulping some down. She put her hand on his forearm and the t-shirt she'd got for him lay abandoned on the couch's arm rest.

"I'm a fuck up," he muttered ashamedly. Only the drink could make a grown man cry like a baby, Lily had learned over the years. She figured it wouldn't be so bad if she played catch up, and went to help herself to August's well-stocked bar. She still hadn't forgotten what she sorely needed to forget, and a drink with August was just the thing to make her feel better. At least it was better than drinking alone, as August had obviously proven to her.

"Now, now, August, I'm sure it's not so bad," she told him, taking a sip from a glass she had filled to the brim with gin and tonic. "Nothing's so bad it can't be undone," she told him. August swiveled his head, made heavy on his neck by the drink, and gave her a baffled look. "What world do you live in?" he slurred. "You can't undo things," he argued stubbornly.

Lily looked hopefully towards him. "Don't say that," she pleadingly said. She crossed the room to sit next to him again on the couch, this time grabbing his arm reproachfully. Urgent. "We have to believe we can make things better again," she insisted. Her eyes were wide with unshed tears and August clearly wasn't understanding her. "What the hell're you talking about? What happened on your trip?" he demanded to know.

"What do you mean?" Lily squeaked, then took a prolonged gulp from her glass. Her eyes shifted guiltily to look anywhere but at August, and his brow furrowed in confusion. "What'dya mean, what do I mean? Emma's clearly been upset with you ever since you guys got back. What happened when you guys were gone?" he asked, but he was beginning to suspect the answer to his question.

"Alright, alright," Lily groaned and took another drink from her gin and tonic. She set the half empty glass down with a bang on the coffee table. "I might've sort of cheated on Emma a little while we were on vacation," she stumbled over her words in her rush to get them out. "Lily..." August said in a disappointed voice. "What makes you think that's so bad?" he asked.

"What?" Lily asked, complete disbelief etched onto her face. "What do you mean it's no big deal? I tell you I cheated on my girlfriend, and you've got bigger problems buddy?" she asked, huffing. Lily picked up her glass again, and August tsked at her. "Lily, that is small fries compared to what I'm talkin' bout. I'm talking about finding a way to find my mother," he admitted, his hands clenching into fists on his knees as he poured out his heart to the brunette. "I keep missing my chance to find her," he told her.

Lily was instantly distracted from her own problems. The search for missing parents was a mission she was intimately familiar with, and she sympathized greatly for August. She shushed him, and tugged his head down to her shoulder. His breath came in hot and haggard bursts against her collar bone, and Lily petted August's curly brown head comfortingly. "I'm sorry August. If there was a way we could all magically find our parents, I'd be happy to help you," she sadly told him, never knowing what music she sounded to his ears with the sentence.

After a long pause, he asked, "What if I told you there was a way?" Lily peered at him anxiously. "Are you saying there is?" She gulped, hardly hoping that this mysterious and drunken man might hold all the answers to her questions. But if she knew personal motivation was anything to go by, then August had just as much reason for looking for a way to find missing parents as she did.

"What can we do? What'd'you know?" she asked, desperately needing to know for herself. She was filled with questions, and eager to find any way to get her answers. She would leave no stone unturned in her quest, and August could sense that fact about the brunette. He knew that he would be able to get her to come to Storybrooke with a little coaxing, but the trouble now in light of Lily's news would be getting the girls there together. He couldn't have the two of them splitting up and going their own separate ways. He'd have to find a way to help keep the girls together.

"When I was overseas, I heard about a man back in the states that might be able to help. He can find any lost object. And I figured..." August trailed off, and Lily looked at him excitedly, her eyes shining. "Well, where is he?! Where can we find him?" she asked eagerly, and August said, "That's the catch. The place he lives is cloaked by a powerful protection spell, and its location wont be visible to us for a few months." Lily looked incredulously at him, taken aback.

"What, you mean like real magic?" she scoffed. Either she was drunk or he was crazy, or maybe they were both. She considered the notion for a minute, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up excitedly. Against all reason, she was intrigued by the offer August was making her. There wasn't any option Lily was willing to ignore in the search for her parents, and if August knew someone who might be able to help them, then she felt he could be trusted. After all, they had a common goal, and slowly Lily realized, they were both most definitely drunk. They probably wouldn't even remember this in the morning, she thought to herself.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** This chapter is more Lily-centric, just to prove not everyone is perfect. How will this affect August's mission to get both of the girls to Storybrooke? Follow/fav to find out, and don't be afraid to review :)_


	4. Crossed Lines

**Chapter 4**

 **Crossed Lines**

The next morning, Lily woke up disoriented. She forgot where she was momentarily, looking up at the white ceiling of a bedroom she didn't recognize. Her eyes widened in alarm after she blinked the sleep out of her eyes and reality set in. She was smack dab in the middle of the biggest "oh shit" moment ever. She turned her head to see August was sleeping peacefully beside her, head turned away from her.

His shoulders and broad back were bare, and Lily realized with a start she wasn't wearing any pants. She lifted the black sheet draped over her and was relieved to see she wasn't naked. August was shirtless, but still wore his pants and socks from the night before. She thanked her lucky stars he was unconscious and decided to quietly roll out of bed. Lily racked her brain, _Did something happen?_

She left August sleeping and got dressed in the bathroom. She paused at the bathroom mirror to swipe at her raccoon like eyes, and thought for the hundredth time how absolutely _fucked_ she was- Emma was going to be pissed. Lily never made it home last night. She remembered finding August at the bar and taking him back to his apartment. She got sloppy drunk with him, never one to let a friend drink alone. Nothing happened though. She just passed out.

Her timing couldn't be more terrible, because just as she was sliding out of August's place, Emma came bounding up the steps, back fresh from her morning run. Her eyes grew large with shock, and then her features twisted into a horribly, ugly angry snarl. "What the fuck, Lily?!"

"Em, I can explain," she implored her girlfriend, spreading her hands out in an innocent gesture. She fumbled for the front door behind her so they could move their conversation in doors. "What kind of explanation can you possibly have for fucking not one, but TWO people in the past month?!" Emma's voice rose higher and higher, and soon Lily was getting pissed right back at her.

"I didn't do anything!" she yelled back. "If you'd let me finish, I could tell you how we just got drunk last night, that's all!" Lily shouted, stomping her way into the bedroom. She had to get away from Emma when she was like this. She was fed up with Emma's attitude- just because she had one slip up on vacation didn't mean she fucked every single person she came across, no matter how sexy they both agreed their neighbor was.

"Oh, is that all?!" Emma said, her voice raising an octave and breaking shrilly. "I'm not fuckin' him, Emma," Lily growled as Emma stalked into the room on her tail. "Well forgive me for saying so, but trust in you is a fuckin' foreign concept nowadays," Emma sarcastically bit out and Lily's eyesight nearly went red. It was unbearable being accused of something she did not do. It was bad enough owning up to the things you _did_ do without being accused of a slew of other crimes on top. Lily could just never win. She had had meaningless sex with a girl on vacation, yes, but August wasn't just anybody. He was starting to be their friend. She had no desire to be with him sexually, and was insulted how convinced Emma remained that something had happened when Lily was telling the truth. The fact that Emma didn't believe her when she was telling the truth was infuriating, worse than being found out in a lie.

Emma had been hovering around Lily as she went about the room. She was so angry she didn't realize at first what all items the brunette was collecting as she walked around. When she noticed Lily reaching for her make up bag, and getting on her hands and knees for her suitcase, Emma halted unsurely.

"What're you doing?" she asked, dumb foundedly. She should be the one to break up with Lily for what she had done, it wasn't supposed to be the other way around. Lily was leaving her. "I'm going," the brunette confirmed. "Alice said I could crash at her place for awhile until things blow over," Lily said, wishful thinking at its finest. She did sincerely hope Emma had it in her to forgive her.

Maybe it was selfish, but it was too painful to be reminded of how she hurt Emma and let her down on a daily basis. This separation would be good for both of them. They could reevaluate what it is they truly desired from each other and go from there. But first, Emma had to stop hating her guts.

"I'm sorry, really, I am," Lily said, zipping her suitcase closed. "We can take a few days. You call me, if you need me," Lily said meaningfully, hoping Emma would miss her. She prayed Emma would miss her, and ask her to come back. Until then, Emma shouldn't have to look at her everyday with such misery and betrayal reflected in her beautiful green eyes. She needed time and space to heal. And if Lily was honest, she needed time away to figure out what she really wanted, too.

Emma sank down onto the bed. She was quiet, and then, forcefully, she said, "Fine, go!"

 *** ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~**

August woke up that afternoon with a hangover from hell. He was nauseous, and barely made it to the bathroom before he was regurgitating the contents of his stomach. He was sick and uncomfortable on the floor by the toilet and his leg was killing him. August could faintly hear from his place on the floor the sound of soulful music filled with sadness playing next door.

He managed to struggle up from the ground by gripping the porcelain white claw footed bath tub. The last thing he remembered from last night was sitting on the couch, talking with Lily. August splashed some cool water on his face from the faucet and cupped some water into his hands, rinsing his mouth out.

He wandered into the living room, looking for Lily. She was nowhere to be found. He could still hear the blues playing next door, and the sound was beginning to bother him. Lily had left, and Emma was playing sad music. Somehow, August couldn't abide the thought of the Princess suffering next door all alone, not when he was literally staying right next door.

August pulled on a black t-shirt and then his leather jacket. He winced as he descended the stairs leading outside his apartment complex. He made his way towards a corner convenience store, hurrying as best as his leg would allow. Carrying a sack, he took the elevator back up to their floor, and was soon standing in front of Emma's door knocking. When she opened the door and saw him, her eyes narrowed dangerously and she glared daggers at the man.

Then she shut the door in his face.

 _Hold on_ , August paused, his eyebrow raised curiously at the unyielding door, and then gave it another rap. This time, Emma threw open the door with a wild eyed look in her green eyes and she was immediately on the offensive. "What d'you want August?! You got my girlfriend, what more could you want?" she demanded.

August's face looked shocked, and then realization dawned on him. "What?!" His clear blue eyes were alarmed and August moved as if to prevent her from shutting the door on him again. "Let me explain," he said. Emma folded her arms over her chest and glared at him stonily, her silence in itself loud and condemning. "I'm pretty sure Lily is innocent here," August said, trying to help clear the brunette's name. "I don't remember getting the nasty on last night, and for what it's worth, I doubt I'd ever forget someone like her," he said, his tone mischievous as he tried to lighten the mood.

Emma's stern expression melted away as she looked August in the eye. She could sense he was telling the truth, and she started to feel a little foolish for jumping to conclusions. He may have flirted with both of them on a regular basis, but August had never done anything untoward to either of them. He genuinely seemed to respect their relationship, which was more than Emma could say of Lily at the moment.

Emma mentally scoffed, appalled at how bad her luck in her relationship was going. But at least she had a friend through all this, she thought, darting a look at her mysterious, sleepy eyed neighbor. And if Lily didn't cheat, Emma reluctantly acknowledged if only to herself that she owed Lily an apology. She just wasn't ready to make up yet.

"Sex or no sex, you shouldn't have kept her all night," Emma still argued. "I was worried sick about her," the blonde said and the writer grimaced. "I'm afraid that's my fault, too. I drank a little too much last night and Lily was just trying to help," he said. The look Emma sent his way clearly showed she wasn't convinced.

"For what it's worth, I'm very sorry," August said and held up the sack he'd forgotten he was still holding. "Please accept my apologies," he said, holding it out to her and Emma reached in and pulled out a pint of strawberry ice cream. Her eyes lit up and she smiled for the first time all day.

"I hope you like it, I hear it does wonders for break ups," the writer commented. He watched Emma retreat into the kitchen, admiring her shapely figure from behind in her pink tank top and loose fitting, grey sweat pants. Her waist tapered in pleasantly and he was a sucker for her long, curly blonde hair. If they ever ended up in bed together, he was counting on running his hands through her golden tresses and inhaling the scent of her.

August kicked himself for the thought, smiling indolently as Emma came back to the living room with some spoons. "I guess you're sorry for that, too, then," Emma said, snarky tone evident in her voice. Lily and Emma's relationship was barely cold, and here he was already imagining what the blonde's hair smelled like. "If I remember correctly, there was trouble afoot before I got here," August mused, and went to sit beside Emma who had sunk down into their plush, white couch. She offered a spoon to him which he took and helped himself to the pint in her hands. "Don't remind me," Emma said, and heaved a heavy sigh.

They shared the ice cream together in companionable silence while the music played on in the back ground. There was a long pause as Emma warred internally with herself, needing someone to talk to but being reluctant to open up to her mysterious neighbor. Her insecurities won out in the end.

"We've been growing apart for awhile," Emma finally admitted. "She's mad at me because she's ready to move on, keep looking for our parents, and I kind of like it here. I don't see the point in searching for them anymore," Emma explained, and her demeanor turned bleak.

August's eyes softened as he looked at the blonde and he said, "Have you lost sight of hope?" Emma gave a mirthless laugh. "You and I both know I'm a glass half-empty kinda girl," she said. "You sound like you don't even want to find them," August accused her, wondering how Emma could seem so indifferent to a task Lily considered so close to her heart. "Isn't it important to you?"

"Of course it is. But what good is wishing for anything going to do? How is knowing who or where they are supposed to make me feel any better when I'm _still_ the one that went looking for them first?" she asked. "Maybe it's more complicated than you know," August said mysteriously. "What if you were kidnapped? What if your parents died? Shouldn't you stop wasting so much time hating them for leaving you, and find out what really happened? You're not doing yourself any favors. Lily's right. We have to keep looking for our parents."

"We?" Emma asked, raising an eyebrow. "Since when do you plan on leaving? You just got here a couple weeks ago!" Emma exclaimed, incredulous as to what nonsense he was spouting now. "Don't you have a lease?" she asked. "Pfft! As if I'd let that stop me, I'm my own kind of man," he said. "And when I feel the need to go, I will." Emma stared at him, truly baffled. "Where will you go?" August replied, "That's for me to know and you to find out."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** As always, please read and review! I'd love to hear any thoughts or concerns you might have. Stick around for some wooden swan action, it's coming soon ;)_


	5. When the cat's away, the mice will play

**Chapter 5**

 **When the cat's away, the mice will play**

A week later, Emma still had not called Lily yet. August noticed her absence conspicuously as Emma went about her usual routine of keeping her body fit, but he found he only saw her in passing. The blonde's face was always filled with tension and her green eyes were guarded, unyielding in any information. A few times, he almost stopped to knock on her door but thought better of it, knowing as he did the attraction he felt brewing between them.

She might not be aware of his feelings yet, but August was all too aware of his own forbidden feelings. He was supposed to be the Savior's guardian, not her lover. The Apprentice had stressed to him that he needed to ensure both Lily _and_ Emma made it to the town of Storybrooke. He was left to assume it was important they remain together, but his mind had other ideas sometimes. With Lily out of the picture, he found the temptation to go knocking on Emma's door quite overwhelming at times. He resisted the urge with a doggedness he didn't remember he possessed.

Emma and Lily might not have been speaking, but that didn't stop Lily and August from meeting. He was dozing on his couch, having fallen asleep channel surfing, when he heard a knock at his door. It was afternoon around lunch time, and when he opened the door he found Lily standing there. The brunette had looked better. Her hair was knotted, her lips chapped, and her fingernails showed signs of worry, chewed down to the nub until they were jagged and short. Lily let herself into his apartment, walking past him hurriedly.

"Well hey there," August said, glancing at her over his shoulder as he shut the door. He looked curiously at her as she plopped onto his couch, slumped down in defeat. Her head hang heavy on her troubled shoulders and her hands rested uselessly at her sides. "Not to be rude, but are you sure we should be seeing each other like this?" he asked, gesturing at her. Lily scoffed, "Oh please, like I don't know my girlfriend's schedule. Emma's at work right now," she commented with ease and confidence she didn't feel.

She crossed her arms over her chest, feeling the need to hug herself. "Is that what she is? I heard differently," August teased, and Lily glared at him. "I thought Emma would realize we didn't do anything. You did tell her that, didn't you?" Lily asked, and if looks could kill, the glare she aimed his way would have killed him dead on the spot. "Of course, I told her you were innocent," he said. "Maybe she just needs some time," he added, coming to sit beside Lily on the couch. Lily looked truly miserable.

August wished that he could comfort her. "We'll figure something out," he tried to say reassuringly. Lily sighed, and she frowned, trying and losing the battle not to shed any tears. She found herself seeking solace in the stubbled writer, and she turned to him and buried her head in his chest. He smelled like leather and Jim Bean as he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her.

"You haven't told her what you told me, have you?" she asked quietly within the circle of August's arms. He tensed almost imperceptibly, having hoped that Lily drank far too much that night to remember him telling her about his plan. "I haven't," he replied. "We could use that," Lily said hopefully, pulling back some to look pleadingly into the writer's blue eyes. August hated himself for not remembering exactly what he had told her in his drunken state. _How much does she know?_

"How is that going to help?" he questioned her, and Lily sat back away from him. She pouted and crossed her arms over her chest, adopting a stubborn stance. "You can tell her about this man, and when I back you up and say I'm going with you, how could she stay behind?" August eyed her for a moment, and then sighed. "You think it's that easy, don't you?" he asked. Lily looked confused, "What?"

"You don't get it, do you? Some people, like you and me, we can go on faith but Emma isn't like that. She's the type that needs proof," he said, truly disdained that what he was saying was the truth. Emma was a hard nut to crack, and the walls she had up stretched on for miles. Lily bit her lip, worried. Her new friend was right. She herself could hardly believe she was daring to believe in this wild quest. It was going to be a lot harder to convince Emma.

"You're right, Emma's not going to believe that a magical sorcerer is going to help us find our parents," she said, a furrow in her brow as she thought hard about their predicament. She was going to have to team up with August in order to get her happy ending, to get Emma back and finally find her parents.

"But you know," August said, "Emma doesn't have to believe in magic to go to Storybrooke. We just have to get her there." Lily considered this for a moment. "But how? Emma's lost hope. She doesn't see any point in looking anymore," she said sadly."Then we just have to convince her that it's worth looking one more time. We just have to remind her how important this all this," August said, brainstorming.

What could they do to convince Emma to leave a place she was finally comfortable in after all her years of running? "I don't see how we're gonna show her that," Lily said, coming up blank for ideas. She shrugged helplessly and August suddenly gripped Lily by the arms reassuringly and a mischievous smirk crept onto his face. "You leave that to me, I might have an idea," he said.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

Hours later, August was standing outside Emma's door. He was determined to ask her out this time and he had a very specific outing in mind. It was a Saturday and Emma was off work. He could hear music playing next door and was glad to recognize some good old rock and roll instead of hearing her play the blues. He took it as a sign, and raised his hand to knock at her door.

The blonde answered and the look on her face was taken aback at first. Then, a smile broke out on her face as she took in his blue Boston Red Socks jersey and matching baseball cap he was wearing. He was wearing blue jeans and sneakers to match. The smirk on his face, coupled with the stubble, made it almost impossible to deny how good looking he was. He was holding out a white red socks jersey, and smiling ridiculously. "I got two tickets to the game today, and I know just the person who wants to go with me," he said, eyeing her up and down.

Emma's loose curly hair was down around her shoulders and she wore a blue tank top and black shorts, her normal attire for kick boxing class. "Unless this is a bad time?" he asked, uncertain, and the crushed look on his face at the prospect made Emma think twice. "Oh, no, not at all," she shook her head and opened the door wider, inviting August inside. "Let me just get ready then, alright?"

She left August to the living room and the TV remote control and went into her bedroom with the jersey he gave her. She switched shirts into a black short sleeved t-shirt with a scoop neck and dark blue jeans she had to pour herself into. Her black ankle boots were next, and then Emma pulled the white jersey over her frame and pulled her hair up into a messy, high pony tail.

She reemerged, ready for a fun outing in the sun, and August insisted they ride his bike to the ball park. It was their first time to be so close to one another, and Emma found herself holding on unnecessarily tight to the writer. Her hands might have brushed his abs a few times, trying to ascertain the planes beneath his blue jersey. Leaning into him as they rode felt natural, and Emma felt safe with the black helmet he'd given her.

"Sorry if I scared you," August said as they dismounted from the bike, and she handed him her helmet so he could stow it in the side bags. "What? I wasn't scared," she scoffed, her hands coming to rest jauntily on her hips. "Oh, I thought that was why you were gripping me so hard," he knowingly said, shooting a flirty glance her way. Emma nearly blushed, but looked away just in time.

"Those bikes are dangerous, the way you were taking those turns I might've fell off," she defended herself and August grinned like the chesire cat. He had loved the feeling of her pressed against him, and was eager to repeat the experience. But then, he was a masochist, after all.

August followed Emma through the parking lot with some effort, puffing uncomfortably every once in awhile due to his leg. The parking lot was huge and finally they reached the box stand and presented their tickets. They entered the park and could hear the tell tale music of all baseball games wafting through the air.

Emma spotted a vendor and went to buy them two huge big gulps and loaded hot dogs. They could hear the announcer on the PA, and August noticed a number of kids and adults scattered about the rows of plastic green seats they passed. They walked down the steep, concrete steps and found their seats behind third base. They had a decent view, and August and Emma wooped against the away team.

After the third inning, August excused himself to go fetch them some beers and noticed two kids sitting together alone, eating popcorn. The boy threw some popcorn in the wild blonde hair of the girl and she squealed, pushing him. They looked like siblings, and August drifted closer towards them. He sat in the chairs behind them, and leaned down to talk to them. "Good game, huh?" he said, surprising the two kids. "Yeah, great game!" the brother said enthusiastically, but the girl was looking suspiciously at the stranger talking to them.

"I'm trying to help my friend out," August said, and gestured down at Emma a few rows down. "It would really help her out if two would let her take you guys back to your house after the game," he solemnly told them, hoping they would go along for Emma's sake. "Our parents are coming to get us after the game," the boy said, and the blonde sister nodded emphatically. "I'll make it worth your while," the stranger promised, and the girl and boy couldn't help but look excited when he pulled out some cash.

"What do we have to do?" the girl asked. "How are we supposed to help her?" the little girl asked, genuine concern and a desire to help showing on her eager face now that she might have enough to buy a doll or two. "I want you two to pretend like you've lost your parents, and she'll do the rest." He handed the money to the little girl, and she nodded with determination as August left her to get the beers he promised.

"Long line," August said when he returned, dropping into the seat beside Emma's. He was holding two foamy beers in styrofoam cups and held one out for Emma. She thanked him and started drinking the beer with gusto, hollering at the men on the bases. Who knew Emma could be such an exuberant fan when she seemed so stand offish usually. August felt like he was truly seeing her be herself for the first time, unguarded during a happy moment. She didn't need to hide anything, she was just having a good time. August was glad he invited her.

Many beers later, August was getting anxious to see the two siblings from earlier. He and Emma were standing outside the main entrance, and Emma was stuffed full of hot dogs and good beer. She smiled quite a lot, and even hung onto August's arm for support as they walked. They looked not unlike a cute couple, and suddenly that is when his eyes fell on the two kids standing by a bench, looking expectantly their way. August steered them towards the bench, claiming he needed to stretch his legs out after being cramped in those seats for so long.

Emma sat down beside him, and before long, her attention was caught by the two children. "Don't worry, Nick, we'll find them," the older sister said, patting her brother's arm as the young boy sniffled. She looked up and around, her gaze flicking towards August, before searching the crowd exiting the stadium and making a show of looking around. "Mom? Dad?" she tried calling out, taking a few steps from the bench. Emma started to grow concerned. "What's wrong, guys? You can't find your parents?" she asked, alarm growing by the second.

"They said they'd pick us up, but we can't find them anywhere," the young boy Nick wailed, going into hysterics. Behind Emma's back, August rolled his eyes but followed along nonetheless. "Calm down, kid," he said, "Where are they supposed to meet you?" His sister started pointing towards the northwest corner and answered, "That's where they dropped us off." The kids knew good and well their parents were expecting them out the south exit instead, and hoped their parents didn't discover them before they could finish the task the stranger had given them.

"Maybe you guys missed each other," Emma said, reaching into her pocket to pull out her cell phone. She looked expectantly back at the girl, and asked, "What's your name?" The girl walked up to Emma and looked hopefully up at her and said, "Ava, and this is my brother Nick." "Ava, do you guys know your parents number? Maybe I can call them," Emma suggested.

August barely shook his head no, and Ava noticed and supplied their home number knowing no one would be there to answer. "That's my dad's number," she said, and Emma rang with no answer. She did confirm it was their number by the answering machine, and then stood up. "Well, let's go take a look for them," she said, offering her hand to the girl.

Ava took Emma's hand easily and her brother followed behind, August bringing up the rear. The group headed the long way around the building to where their parents were expecting to find them, but by this point, they had already grown worried and went to park the car and go inside to look for their kids. So when the group got to the south exit, no one was there to pick up the kids and they did a full circle around the stadium with no success in finding them. "Well, do you guys know your address? Maybe we can just catch a cab and take you all home to meet them," August suggested. Emma was impressed he was willing to leave his bike behind in order to help the two kids out.

Ava supplied their address and the two kids climbed into a taxi with the couple they'd just met. They were secure in the knowledge they'd be able to get a new toy or two at the end of the exchange, and they were almost home. Nick kept saying he wanted his mom, and Emma hushed him sitting in her lap. Ava sat between she and August.

Emma started to grow wistful, reflecting on how many times she'd wished for the same thing. Emma could sympathize greatly with two kids lost, just looking for their parents, and absent mindedly stroked the young boy's head to comfort him. The gesture was not lost on August, and he watched her "soothe" the boy's frazzled nerves.

They pulled up to the house, and the kids went up to the gate and opened it, inviting the two strangers into the yard. The adults didn't feel it was appropriate to enter their house, so they waited on the porch steps for Ava and Nick's parents to return. They didn't have to wait long before a beige minivan pulled into the driveway, and the kid's parents piled out of the van in a rush. The mother was strawberry blond haired and their father had brown hair like Nick's. The sheer joy and relief written on the mother's face was enough to make Emma smile at their reunion.

"Nick! Ava!" their dad called out, and the kids rushed towards their parents. The mother grabbed Ava in a fierce bear hug, and they noticed Emma and August sitting on their porch for the first time. "Oh, thank you! You two must have brought them home," the woman said, filled with gratitude. "Oh, it was no problem," Emma said, "We just wanted to make sure they made it home alright, and that you guys were okay." The parents insisted they come in for dinner, but August and Emma begged off, and the parents were left to happily herd their children in doors for the night as twilight fell upon the city.

Emma and August rode back to the stadium in the cab in silence, but Emma had a huge grin stretched over her face the whole ride. "Well, that's my good deed for the day," August remarked as they alighted from the cab. They walked through the abandoned parking lot back to where August parked, and Emma found herself excited to have the wind whipping past them on the back of August's bike. She held on tightly to him once more and August rode back to their apartment complex with a smug smirk in place.

When it was time to part ways at their respective front doors, August wasn't quite ready to leave Emma. The long look they shared at the door suggested she felt the same, and August realized he wanted to lean in and kiss her good night. Emma pursed her lips, sure that he was going to kiss her by the way he was looking at her. But instead, he cleared his throat uncomfortably and was about to excuse himself for the evening when Emma blurted out, "Wanna come in for a drink?"

August grinned wolfishly. "I should have known you could never get tired of me," he teased, and Emma chuckled and shook her head, letting them into her apartment. She went to the kitchen while August seated himself on the couch in front of the TV. He noticed the fairy tale story book was laying on her white coffee table, and he picked it up and spread it over his lap to read it.

She came back with two cold bottles of long necked beer and stopped short in the doorway, looking at her mysterious next door neighbor. His eyes were scanning the page he was on intently, and the easy way he draped himself over her furniture as though he belonged there made her eyes linger on his trim figure just a little longer than was appropriate. She gave her head a little shake when she realized she was staring and chastised herself, blaming it on all the alcohol.

She sank down onto the couch beside August and handed him a beer. She smiled a lazy grin he learned only alcohol brought out in her. The easy smile on her lips was so endearing his urge to lean in and capture her perfect pink mouth in a searing kiss was hard to suppress. He _needed_ her to come with him to Storybrooke. He couldn't wait much longer. True, he needed her to redeem himself in his father's eyes, but really he felt like he needed her because he wanted to be close to her and protect her like he _should_ have been doing all along. He desperately wanted to do right by her now.

He had spent the last few weeks getting closer to her and trying to get to know her so he could find the best way to bring up his knowledge of their shared past, but he somehow always found himself distracted by their easy going relationship and bantering and flirtatious energy she emitted when he was around. He was attracted to her and her precious mind and felt directly responsible for making her realize the role she played in the story book, The Savior. He needed her to become the Hero he knew she was.

He took a sip of his beer and gestured to the book he was holding. "Read any good ones?" he inquired, indicating the glossy pages of the book. He thumbed through them and Emma scooted closer to him on the couch, dragging the huge volume half way across her lap. At this point, their legs were touching and neither of them moved to correct the soft pressure they both felt from the other. August was suddenly breathless, and let her take the volume from him and flip through the pages.

"I never suspected the Queen of Hearts would be Cora!" Emma admitted, reaching out to show him a particular page. It was the story of how Regina the Evil Queen infiltrated Wonderland with the Mad Hatter in order to rescue her father from her diabolical mother's clutches. "This story is so much darker than the other versions of Alice in Wonderland stories," Emma elaborated.

"When I read that story, I was amazed at how selfish the Queen was being. She took away someone else's father so that she could be reunited with her own," she said rather sadly. The idea of anyone's parents being taken away was obviously enough to make her blue. August wrapped what he told himself was just a friendly arm around her shoulders and gave her a gentle squeeze. Emma rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm glad we were able to help those kids find their parents," she said, feeling good about herself. "What if I helped you find _your_ parents?" he asked. "You know, maybe your parents were taken away," August proposed after a long moment of silence stretched between them. "Don't you want to try and find out?"

Emma stirred beside him, whipping her head up to look him dead in the eye. "What'd you know that I don't?!" she demanded to know, her voice unintentionally rising an octave. She'd always known that August was keeping secrets, and by God, if he actually did have some information she wouldn't put it past him! He was mysterious enough about his own past, it wouldn't surprise her if he was keeping secrets about hers.

"August," she begged, turning on the couch to look directly at him. The book fell from her lap, and August glanced briefly down at it as Emma clasped the front of his shirt in her hands. "What is it that you think you know?" she asked tiredly. "How can you lead me to my parents?" she asked, her voice trembling with the sound of her palpable doubt.

"I know that you come from a land filled with magic. You know, The Enchanted Forrest?" "You mean... the forest... in the book?" Emma asked, and if her eyebrows could've met her hairline they would have. She looked incredibly incredulous at August and narrowed her eyes appraisingly at him. "It's a shame, the good looking ones are always a bit touched in the head," she complained.

"I'm serious!" August said, looking Emma straight in the eye. "You came from a different land, and there's a man from that same world living in Maine who can help us find our parents, Emma." She rolled her eyes and sighed exasperatedly. "August, if you expect me to believe I came outta some fairy tale world, you're barking up the wrong tree." "Emma, you have to believe me," he tried to interrupt but her voice rose over his, "No! August, no way! That's insane."

Her face morphed into an expression of anger as she looked at him. "You're insane! Insane and a drunk, why should I believe anything you have to say?" Her eyes pooled with angry tears from the super charged situation and August could have clawed his own face in his frustration.

"You need to get out, August," she commanded in a low, thick voice choked with emotion. "It's sick and just plain WRONG of you. You must have some balls to dangle some fairy tale crap like that in my face! How am I supposed to believe in some magical answer to all my problems when my life is shit?" How he expected her to swallow such lies was unbelievable.

"This is the real world, August," she said, and stalked towards the front door and jerked it open. "I don't know what world you live in, but I think you should go now," she said, showing him the door. August slunk out of the room with his proverbial tail between his legs and miserably reflected how things could have gone better.

Forget the magic, if she wouldn't believe in magic, he knew she at least yearned for answers enough to go where her parents _could_ be. Maybe Lily had the right idea. She and Emma had spent a life time searching, and he alone knew all too well how fruitless their search had been. As long as The Evil Queen wished it, they would never be able to find their parents in this realm until Emma's 28th birthday.

August hoped like hell that Lily's plan could work, that the two of them together could at least convince Emma to go on one last trip with them. He hoped she wouldn't be able to resist his offer to possibly be reunited with her birth parents, even if it took a crazy man leading her to them. He would just have to try again.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** As always, please read and review! They should be making their way to Storybrooke soon enough._


	6. Reconciliations

**Chapter 6**

 **Reconciliations**

After stepping out of her yellow bug, Emma stretched her neck languidly and leaned against the door tiredly. Her neck was killing her since she'd been crammed in the bug on a stake out yet again. This time, her reward for all her efforts paid off and she had been able to turn in a successful roll of film cataloging some cheating husband's affairs to his very unhappy wife.

Sometimes, Emma forgot why she got into this business when she had to be all business and professional like while breaking it to them. She hated being the bearer of bad news as she often was in this line of business, but it put food on the table and it was simple enough, finding people. That is, everyone but her own parents were simple enough to find.

Emma collected her wad of cash from the unhappy wife and went on her way. As she was driving, she contemplated the last couple of weeks. Lily and she hadn't seen each other since the morning she left, and Emma was playing elusive and trying to get over her hurt pride. She was despondent that Lily had cheated on her, and wasn't in any rush to forgive her for the time being. As it always turned out, Emma had up walls to keep others out for a reason. Every person she let in ended up hurting her.

She knew the reason Lily had strayed. Lily was frustrated, and thinking of leaving. There had been signs for a while now that were hard to ignore. Part of their shared past together was knowing when Lily was growing tired of staying in one place too long. Lily was the main reason they kept moving around, because she had a penchant for landing herself in trouble. They had left their last place in South Carolina because the brunette got caught embezzling from her cashier job at a retail outlet.

This time was no different. As soon as she knew she wanted to leave, she started doing things to wreck the place they were at. Emma was familiar with her pattern, and upset at her role in it all the time. Lily messed up, and Emma helped her cover her tracks. They went from town to town because they had been trying for many years to find their parents. Lily was consumed with wanderlust and a desire to find them, and Emma was bitter over the time spent looking for people that did not want to be found. She felt lonely and misunderstood, since she no longer shared Lily's passion. Lily still thought their parents were worth looking for, and Emma didn't.

Emma parked her car and rode the elevator up to her floor, passing August's door. It had been a couple days since her last encounter with her neighbor, and she found she was avoiding him. She hated that he had a point. Their last interaction had planted a seed of doubt in her, and it was somehow blooming into hope.

Maybe he was right, maybe she didn't need to be mad at her missing parents. Perhaps something was preventing them from looking for her. She slid her key into the lock, and when she opened her front door she found Lily already waiting for her inside.

"Hey," Lily called casually, unperturbed by the fact they hadn't so much as spoke in over a week. She was sitting on the couch wearing jeans and a low, v-necked black t-shirt. Her hair looked greasy and unwashed, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She clearly hadn't taken a shine to their time apart.

"Hey... what are you doing here?" Emma asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously, and her tone came across sharper than she intended. "What are you up to?" she asked. She knew this part all too well; Lily had come back to make a case for herself, and Emma was powerless but to listen. Lily was always emotionally manipulating her, and this time, she was going to get her way once more.

"You're certainly playing hard to get," the brunette said and hefted herself off the couch. "Can't I just come for a visit?" she asked coyly, walking up to her ex-girlfriend, her eyes calculating as they stared the blonde down. "Because I missed you?" she asked, leaning in to kiss her ex. Emma stepped back, and clenched her hands into fists. "Lily, I've missed you, too, but I can't see you right now," she said, her voice trembling. She couldn't trust Lily, she never could.

Lily looked as if she'd been slapped. "Emma, after all we've been through, how can you say that?" she asked tremulously, her eyes starting to shine with unshed tears. Emma's heart was breaking, but she couldn't afford to place it in this woman's hands any longer. "I know you're just going to make us leave," Emma said, and she went towards the dining room table to take a seat. Lily followed her and sat across from her, knowing it would make Emma feel more comfortable.

"Emma, that's just it, this place is tired," the brunette said excitedly. "Why do you wanna stay here anyway? What's keeping us here?" she asked beseechingly. "You said that home is a place you just miss when you leave, and what are you going to miss here?" Lily asked. She barreled on. "August told me about a man who could help us," she said, and Emma's gaze was immediately guarded.

"C'mon, let's just try this one last time," she said. She went to take Emma's hands in her own, and Emma reluctantly found herself returning Lily's clammy embrace this time. "You actually believe in that?" Emma asked, her voice accusatory. "I have to, Emma. We haven't had any hints in forever, and we have to follow this one or you know we'll regret it."

What she meant was _she_ would regret it. "I'm going to go with August," the brunette said. As Emma looked across the table at her ex, she was seized with a sudden panic that the woman should leave her entirely. She and Lily had such a long history, had always been there for each other no matter how manipulative their relationship turned at times.

She knew Lily didn't really like the girl she'd slept with while they were away, it was just her selfish way of putting a sour taste in Emma's mouth and instilling a desire to leave the place. Lily somehow always had faith that Emma would forgive her and they'd make up, and Emma was starting to see why. If August and Lily left without her, she would miss them more than anything. In fact, avoiding them so long was probably part of the reason she'd been so blue.

She was starting to see that with or without her, Lily was determined to go with August and find their parents. She couldn't afford to be kept from her desperately sought answers any longer, and Emma saw that she was holding her back from leaving. And if they were leaving, she would just have to go with them. She didn't want to forgive Lily entirely, and she had no hope that they would actually find their parents, but she figured she would at least try for their sake. "Where? When are you guys going?" she found herself asking.

Lily smiled a triumphant smile, knowing she'd won this battle. Emma might not have forgiven her, but at least she was willing to come along! "I don't know when, honestly," the brunette admitted and pursed her lips. "We'd have to talk to August," she said. "He's the one who knows where to find this man," she explained, and Emma's brow wrinkled in disbelief. She wasn't about to believe in some strung out story about a fairy tale land, but a man that could help wasn't so far fetched. "You're right, there's nothing keeping me here," Emma finally said with a defeated sigh. "We'll talk to August."

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

Yet, Emma stalled. She and Lily went about their lives again, Lily back in place at their apartment. However, something had changed between them and Emma still wasn't willing to forgive Lily, or go with her anywhere for the time being. She was procrastinating going to speak with August because of the sour parting of their last encounter and he was starting to sweat the state of affairs they'd left things in as her birthday drew nearer.

The pair had spent days ducking each other in the hall ways avoiding each other, the blonde none more so determinedly than the writer. They both thought it was dangerous to meet. Emma was afraid of what he might try and tell her, and he was afraid of how Emma might make him feel.

He had discovered the two women were back together a couple days past. August was sitting at an outdoor cafe, and Emma and Lily walked past him to go dine inside the restaurant. They didn't notice him since he was wearing dark sunglasses and concentrating on typing on his novel under a sun canopy, quiet, brooding, and unobtrusive.

He watched through the glass window front as the two women took a seat in a booth, their faces and hands animated as they talked and felt his stomach churn with anxiety, want, and untapped need. He felt protective and possessive over the Savior and was willing to wreck her life again if that is what it truly took to get her to Storybrooke.

Thankfully, that need not happen. Lily came to him one afternoon while Emma was at work. She looked like she had a bone to pick with him if the steely look in her eye was anything to go by. "Emma told me everything," she accused. She took a step into August's apartment and he looked expectantly at her. "Told you everything about what?" he innocently asked, his eyes wide and blue.

"She said you told her about the man, too. She told me she's willing to go and see him," she said, relaying the news to the writer and August could have cried so intense was his relief. He'd been puzzling for the past few days how he was supposed to convince the Savior to come with him when she wasn't speaking to him, and furthermore didn't believe him. Lily was proving more useful than he ever thought she'd turn out to be. If Lily believed in him, maybe all hope was not lost.

"Don't get too excited," she said. She took a step closer to August, getting in his personal space and he involuntarily took a step back. "She also told me about your date," she said, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "I trust you to take us to this man, but what are you gonna do to convince Emma? What are you planning for her?"

August knew how to read between the lines. "Lily, you've got nothing to worry about me," he lied. "I'm just a guy trying to find his mom, and I thought that's what you were trying to do, too," he said. "Well, keep your hands off Emma," Lily threatened. "You can take us this man, but that's it. I don't need you distracting her or getting in our way," she said. "Wouldn't dream of it," he quipped and Lily rolled her eyes. "Anyway, when should I tell her we're leaving? I told her I'd ask you," she said.

"It's going to take a little more time," August observed, looking at his calendar on the wall. Emma's birthday was just two days away. _First things first,_ he thought to himself. And he hatched a plan to get back into the good graces of his lady, Emma the Princess, and his Savior.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

Emma returned home that night after an intense kick boxing class, jacket thrown haphazardly around her shoulders which were sticky with sweat. Her hair was up in a disheveled high pony tail and Emma was on her cell phone with her blue tooth attached to her ear. She was listening to a song called _Long Jacket, Short Skirt_ and she was lucky she was mindful of her feet as she danced along to the tune, because at the last minute she saw a bouquet of white fully bloomed roses laying at the foot of her apartment door.

She bent down to the pick the flowers up, pressing them close to her face to inhale their perfume. She smiled and cast a furtive glance around, secretly hoping to see the man she suspected might be responsible. She looked deeper into the rose bouquet once she unlocked her apartment and made her way inside, and discovered herself alone. Lily had already left for work. Emma reached into the bouquet to pluck out a type written note stuck inside.

' _Give me another chance.'_

 _-From the desk and stationery of A.W.B.'_

Emma smiled a full, wide smile and went to put the beautiful flowers in a vase of water. Her birthday was just the day after tomorrow, and she was secretly glad that August had made the first move of getting back into her life. She was willing to extend her forgiveness, but in return she asked for something to trust and believe in. What truth was he really concealing from her about her parents? She sensed he knew more than he was willing to say. She vowed she would get the truth out of August one way or another. This was her chance.

Shortly after a hot shower, Emma had fixed her hair and was brushing on some extra rouge before she headed over to August's place. It was just her luck that when she arrived and he opened the door, he'd been expecting her. He looked relaxed, and well, simply good enough to eat.

If Emma were honest, things had not gone back to normal with Lily once she'd returned because of her very real attraction to the man that lived right next door. She would never admit it, but the stubble on his strong jaw was as stimulating as ever. He wore a dark purple button down shirt that contrasted against his skin and black pants with black dress shoes.

"Emma," August said in greeting, dipping his head cordially. Emma had changed into a green backless dress with strappy heels and let her long golden hair hang loose down her back. The dress made the color of her eyes stand out, and her eyes absolutely smoldered at him. They hadn't traded any words for many weeks, and almost didn't know how to start with one another. "Come inside for a drink?" August offered, figuring, _Baby steps._

Emma accepted his invitation and stepped inside the threshold, demurely perching on his writing chair so as not to be seated on the couch with him. August merely made his way to the bar at the corner and started mixing himself a white russian, ignoring taking a seat altogether. "So how have you been, Emma?" he asked, trying to break the ice.

"Oh, I don't know, pretty fuckin' pissed at you still," she nonchalantly said and accepted the white russian he made for her. August raised his eyebrows, ready to meet the challenge. "I just don't see how you can toy with a person's emotions like that," she said, hurt and distrust still evident in her voice. But he could also sense doubt, a little hope behind her thin veneer of acting tough peeking through. She hoped he could really deliver on his promise to lead her to her parents, despite her best efforts not to believe in him. She truly was in luck, because that was the one thing August absolutely intended to do.

"Look, Emma," he started, but she cut him off. "No! August, what can you possibly say to make this any better? You give a person hope, and don't you know how dangerous that is?" she asked tearfully. She was starting to grow hysterical almost at the thought of being kept from her parents a second longer if this man truly knew something, which she suspected he did. "What do you really know August?" she pleaded for information.

August sighed and calmly grasped Emma by the shoulders, trying to soothe her frazzled nerves unsuccessfully. She shrugged him off and August cursed under his breath. "Okay... Emma, if you don't want to believe me about the magic-" "August, not this crap again, I swear to God!"

August held his hands up defensively. "Okay, okay, Emma, let me finish! That's not what I'm getting at," he hurried on to say, "What I'm saying is even if magic isn't real, I **do** know how we can find your parents. There's a man that lives in a town called Storybrooke in Maine that can lead us to them. And I would love nothing more than to take you him... but we can't go yet." He hung his head at his last words as Emma reacted as he predicted, wild eyed and demanding to be taken to this man who could help her unravel the mystery that was her birth.

"Listen honey," August told her. "You may not believe it, but the story book says that you can't save them until your twenty-eighth birthday." Emma looked incredulously at him, "Save who?" August explained, "Your parents are waiting for you to save them. They all are." Emma still looked disbelievingly at him. "It's all in the book. Read it for yourself," he said, shrugging helplessly. It was up to her now if she was going to believe in him and let him take her to this Storybrooke. All he could was offer her his services.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Oh no! A wedge has been driven between the girls. Will Emma forgive Lily, or will August find a way in? Find out soon._


	7. Happy Birthday

_**A/N:** Thank you for your views, favorites, and follows! I greatly appreciate the exposure, and would love any feedback you might have for me. I'm sorry for the delay in posting this chapter, but I'm confident I'll be able to deliver more content sooner as a result :) That said, enjoy!_

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

 **Happy Birthday**

Emma was sitting at her desk in the bail bond's office eating lunch when she noticed a familiar face just outside the glass pane by the front door. Lily's face was excited and her eyes and smile exuberant. Her dark hair was pulled back into a high pony tail and she wore a pink jacket and tight, black pants. She gestured towards the door, and Emma nodded for her to let herself in.

There were only a few other people in the office, a red headed secretary and a few bail bondsmen that wore muscle t-shirts, just getting in after some time out in the field. Lily swooped into the office and came to place her hands on Emma's desk. "Guess what birthday girl," she said in a sing-song voice, and Emma visibly cringed, expecting the worst. "What?"

"I got a few girls at work that said they'd go out with us tonight for your birthday," Lily said, smiling innocently. Emma internally groaned. She didn't relish hanging out with Lily's friends on her birthday, but the shit-eating grin the woman had on her face was hard to resist. Lily only wanted her to enjoy herself on her birthday, and this was her way of making up for the past.

"Alright," Emma sighed, conceding defeat to the brunette. "I guess it wouldn't kill me to have a good time," she said. "And I could use a drink," she added. Lily clapped her hands together happily, "Great! I'll tell them to meet us at our place before." Emma blanched, not happy about that fact in particular, when Lily swiveled around and headed towards the front door.

"I'll see you after work! And hey, you're invited, too, you know!" she declared, gesturing towards the red head at the desk nearest the entrance. The red head's name was Felicity, and she smiled awkwardly, darting a glance towards Emma for reassurance.

Emma didn't personally know Felicity very well, as she tended to spend time with the male bail bondsmen over the secretaries at the office since they had more in common. Felicity was nice enough though so Emma nodded her head and gave Lily a shrewd look. "Of course, the more the merrier," she said, and Lily laughed as she shut the front door behind her.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

After her kick boxing class following work, Emma was thoroughly beat and ready to soak in a hot tub for some much needed alone time before the pre-party mixer. She had invited a few of the women from her class out for the night, and she wasn't sure how many people would be invading her home in just a few short hours' time.

Emma unplugged her baby blue stereo from their bedroom and brought it into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind her. She placed it on the sink and pressed the CD button, already loaded with one of the relaxing CDs Lily sometimes used to fall asleep at night. Emma turned the hot water tap alone on and when the tub was full, she added lavender bath salts and slipped into the tub. She sighed in relief as her body unwound, the hot water doing wonders on her tense muscles.

She heard the front door open and close, and assumed Lily was getting ready for the mixer. She'd texted Emma earlier to ask her what drinks to get for the party, and Emma was glad that Lily was willing to play host in all this. Lily would be sure to clean the place up a bit while Emma relaxed, and Emma's brow creased guiltily a little at the thought.

Lily was trying so hard to do the little things for Emma, and the blonde saw her efforts but still wasn't fooled. She knew under Lily's smiles and wiley attitude lay the heart of a real opportunist and schemer. Lily was trouble, and Emma was tired of getting burned. She still loved Lily, but wasn't willing to forgive her just yet.

Emma exited the bath after a long while and managed to look happy and relaxed by the time their guests showed up at their front door. Some of them brought presents, but most of them didn't. The red head Felicity came bearing a bottle of wine and a few of Lily's friends were the first to arrive.

Before long, there was a decent amount of party goers in their living room and Emma spotted August sitting on their couch beside Felicity. Lily must have invited him. The way the pair were looking at each other, both with drinks in hand, didn't settle well with Emma and she found herself annoyed as she hastily turned away from them and weaved her way back towards the kitchen. From the kitchen, she had a safe vantage point from which to see them.

There was a bottle of vodka on the kitchen counter, and Emma found a shot glass and poured herself a shot. She tossed it back and slammed it down on the counter, her eyes narrowing dangerously as she studied the couple's profiles across the room. Felicity tittered at one of August's jokes and her hand came up to smack him playfully in the chest. The blonde rolled her eyes, _typical August._

After her second shot, Emma chastised herself when she recognized the feeling of jealousy flaring up inside of her. _As if things weren't complicated enough with Lily_ , Emma dismally thought and scoffed, deciding to go back to the bathroom where she could be alone. She turned away, trying to ignore the red head and the irresistible, leather clad writer in her living room confusing the hell out of her.

Lily came knocking at the bathroom door not long after. "We're going!" she announced loudly to the party goers, and August was only too glad to let the tipsy ladies be on their way. The red headed Felicity was hard pressed to shut up about their mysterious writer friend all night, however. Try as she might, Emma was perturbed by the red head's presence and couldn't let loose like her friends intended for her celebration.

They bar hopped for a good two hours before Emma decided to call it a night a little early. She'd unwillingly had an eye on Felicity all night and had noticed her go amiss from the group. Emma wondered if her jealousy was getting the best of her as she grabbed her coat from coat check. She was trying desperately to convince herself she _wasn't_ trying to catch August with that bimbo by leaving the bar shortly after her disappearance.

She crept up the stairs to her apartment, and was dismayed to see a disheveled Felicity standing outside the writer's front door when she topped the stairs. The red head had her black high heels in hand and if looks could kill, Emma's eyes would have bored a hole right through Felicity's head. Her worst nightmare come true, August screwing one the floozeys from up at the office she worked at. As Felicity rushed past her, Emma reflected how somehow, she had not been aware that she dreaded such a thing so much until just now.

"Emma?"

Emma was surprised when August suddenly opened his front door to her. She had been so shocked by seeing Felicity flee the scene, she hadn't even attempted to put her keys in her own lock yet. "What're you doing here?" he tried again, confused by the angry look on her face as her brows furrowed.

"What am I doing? What are YOU doing?" she accused angrily, pointing a finger into his chest. His well sculpted, manly chest. "How dare you go around feeling up office bimbos when you're supposed to be taking us to this Storybrooke place!" she nearly shouted.

"I'm what?!" he exclaimed, totally forgetting the reason for their fight in the first place. This was too easy. Now she was going to come with them to Storybrooke? Just like that?

"Yeah," she said, looking anywhere but at his face. Realization dawned on him as he came to understand why she appeared so upset. She thought he and Felicity were getting... _better acquainted._ "Now what makes you think I would do something like that?" he asked.

Emma blanched and gestured over her shoulder, down the stairs where the culprit had fled. "Don't get me wrong," August explained. "It's not like she didn't try. We were going to, but the poor girl started throwing up all over my living room instead," he elaborated with some distaste.

At this, Emma burst into laughter and smacked him on the arm flirtatiously. "That's what you get, Lover Boy," she teased him and August rolled his eyes. "Wanna come help clean up?" he asked hopefully, gesturing with his thumb over his shoulder.

"No, I think I'll pass," she commented. "But I will go with you two, I think I'm ready now," she said gently, reminding him of his promise to them for more information on their parents. She had decided to trust in him and take the ride to Maine with him, and God only knew what would come of the journey ahead.

"I'm glad you came around," he said, looking deeply into her eyes and searching for some sign that she truly believed.

When he looked though, her eyes were smoldering up at him and his breath caught in his throat. She was looking at him _that way_ , and it took all his will power and self possession to clear his throat uncomfortably. He started to turn back towards his home, and gave a little self effacing chuckle.

"I guess I better go clean up then," he said, and Emma's face looked crestfallen for a moment. She recovered, and took a step back from him. "Okay," she said. "But let me ask you this, when will we go?" she asked.

"We'll leave tomorrow."

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

Emma was laying in bed under their yellow covers when she heard the front door open and shut. She heard the loud sound of Lily's purse hitting the floor, and then their bedroom door opened and Lily stood hesitantly in the doorway.

"Emma?" she asked tentatively, her voice quiet as her eyes adjusted to the dark of the room. Emma rolled over in bed, and propped her head up on her hand as she looked towards Lily. "Yeah?"

"Are you alright? Sorry I just got home," the brunette apologized, and Emma could hear the slur in her speech. The bed sank as Lily sat on the bed beside her, and Emma felt inclined to sit up also.

"I'm okay," Emma replied, pulling her striped pajama pants clad legs up to curl her arms around them. "I'm glad," Lily said, leaning in to press a kiss against Emma's lips.

Emma pulled back though, her brows furrowing menacingly and her green eyes sparked with anger. "Woah!" Lily had the decency to look abashed and bit her lip guiltily, looking down at their pillows at the head of the bed.

"I'm _sorry_ ," she sobbed out, sure she would never be able to say it enough to soothe Emma. She felt absolutely miserable, and drunk, and alone. "It's okay," Emma said at length, patting Lily's arm reassuringly.

She turned on the bedside lamp, and a faint orange light enveloped them. Emma sighed heavily. "I'm sorry I had to pull back like that, only I'm just not ready yet," she explained sadly, hanging her blonde head. Lily felt tears sliding down her cheeks and felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest. There was nothing she could do to make her lover forgive her. It seemed only time would heal Emma's wounds, and every minute she had to wait to get back into Emma's good graces was a minute of pure agony.

Lily sniffed, and nodded, and made to lay down next to Emma on the bed. They had not embraced as lovers since moving back in together, and Lily had tried to make tonight, Emma's birthday night, the day they truly decided to let the past be bygones. Emma had other things in store for them, apparently.

She lay down shoulder to shoulder to Lily, and spoke about their plan. "I'm ready for us to go to this place, and see this man August knows so much about," she said, her voice still denoting a hint of disdain for their journey. Lily was just grateful that Emma was willing enough to go anyway, she resolved she would just have to take her small pleasures where she could for the time being.

"Really?" Lily inquired, turning her head to gaze hopefully at her lover. Emma said, "Yeah, if you guys really think this guy might be able to help us, who am I to deny you guys the chance?"

Lily could tell this was somewhat of a sacrifice to Emma, but Emma could be a bail bondsmen anywhere. It wouldn't kill her to relocate one more time. Who knows what they were going to find, but Lily and now Emma were willing to find out.


	8. Welcome to Storybrooke

_**A/N:** Italics read as a dream sequence in this chapter. Please read and review!_

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

 **Welcome to Storybrooke**

It was dusky evening time by the time the trio set out on the road. They tied up loose ends, and soon were gone from Boston. August led the girls on his motorcycle, and under his helmet on the journey, he had plenty of time to ponder over this journey he was undertaking. He had spent so much time winding up to it, the abruptness of their departure had him doubting his convictions.

The road winded endlessly before them, and Emma and Lily followed behind him in the comfort of the yellow bug. August's mind wandered to the blonde driving the car, and he was drove to distraction over the dream he'd had the night before, after she'd left him at his front door.

 _August was lying naked under his crumpled black silk sheets and he wasn't alone. His hand lay resting on the swell of a naked, womanly hip half covered by the sheets. His eyes followed the curve of her milky, white skin and soon he was gazing into the sparkling, green eyes of none other than Emma, his Princess and savior. Her blonde hair was in a curly mess of disarray, and she looked thoroughly pleased with her case of bed head. Most of all, the look she wore took his breath away because she looked happy_ because _of him, pleased to be_ _ **with him.**_

August wasn't sure he could shake the memory of his dream so easily. It had felt so right, and he woke up bitterly wishing his dream would never end. At least when he was asleep things made sense. Now in his waking moments he was undertaking a journey to deliver the savior and her estranged lover to Storybrooke and he saw no place for himself.

He was a realist and knew that soon they would discover his lie, that he had never missed a mother in his life. He was truly missing his father, and the reality that he would soon see him made August bristle with mixed emotion. Although he longed to see his father more than anything, he was filled with self loathing when he actually contemplated the reunion. He could tell his father, "Papa, I have brought the savior home..." _but then what?_

He had not yet convinced her she was the savior of them all. What good would come of bringing Emma to the town when she did not believe there was such a thing as a curse to break? The writer knew all too well she was only coming to the town for the sake of her two friends. She had decided to come along with some reservations, and August hated to be another person to let her down.

He feared that once his friends discovered the truth, they would never trust him again. He supposed with dark dissatisfaction, _They never should have trusted me in the first place_. As much as he valued their friendship and pointing their lives in the right direction, he couldn't help but feel that doing so was turning out to be at his own expense on some levels.

He hoped to restore the state of his left leg, but was ashamed to have to show it to anybody at all, let alone his father. He dreaded admitting he hadn't been living right for a very long time. He didn't want to show his father the evidence that he had taken so long for him to come around and actually do right by Emma. He was supposed to have stayed with the princess from the start, and instead he abandoned her in this world full of so many temptations. The first of so many temptations August had failed to resist, as it would seem.

After a couple of hours, the trio reached their destination. August surprised his travelling companions when he pulled over suddenly outside the town when a quaint sign came into view. "Welcome to Storybrooke," it said, announcing their arrival. The bug came to idle behind him, and Lily leaned out the window. "What gives?"

August shut off his bike and dismounted. Emma stopped the bug and the two women climbed out. "This is where we have to part," August told them solemnly. Emma looked at him, eyes wide with surprise. "What do you mean?!" Lily asked, her voice rising in panic. "Don't worry," he told them, realizing their distressed faces. He hurried to make a quick excuse and smooth their frazzled nerves. After all, it wouldn't do for them to realize he'd taken them all this way and uprooted their lives only to abandon them at the last moment. "My source who told me about the man we're looking for lives near here. Probably two or so days ride from here. You two go into Storybrooke, see what you can find, and I'll meet up with you in a couple of a days."

They reluctantly admitted it might be a good resource for him to renew, and agreed to go into town without him. Lily had a bad feeling, wishing that August was accompanying them into town. She had unknowingly come to depend on him and his certainty in their adventure, and his sudden disappearance made her feel uneasy.

It was already late when the girls pulled into town, and Emma and Lily agreed this sleepy little town didn't seem like the type to have any Motel 6's or clerks that would be up this hour. They made camp in the yellow bug, accustomed to such practices due to their extensive time on the road. They both stretched out in the front seat laid back as far it would go. They were both too keyed up to sleep, surveying the quiet store fronts of the sleepy little town, but eventually Emma's eyes began to droop after such a long drive.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

The next morning, Lily was awakened by a quiet tapping at their window. She looked up, startled to discover a woman with rounded cheeks and a short, dark hair pixie cut smiling down at the pair in the bug. Lily shook Emma awake, and Emma turned the key in the ignition so that Lily could roll her window down.

Peering out the windows, the two discovered that the sleepy little town had morphed overnight and bright sunshine illuminated the sidewalks and revealed a bustling town square. Cars drove past at a leisurely pace, and men and women walked back and forth under the morning sun, busy on their morning commutes.

"Hey, you two," the woman said in welcome. "You must be new in town." Lily and Emma smiled unsurely at her, unaccustomed to people being so darn friendly. "We are," Lily offered kindly. "You guys look like you could use a bed, maybe stretch your legs! Maybe I can show you two around," the short haired brunette offered. "It couldn't hurt," Emma said, shrugging her shoulders, as she heard her belly rumble. The two women climbed out of the bug, and the woman started leading them towards a diner not far down the road. "I'm Mary Margaret, by the way," Mary Margaret introduced herself. The pair introduced themselves to her and she led them inside the retro diner.

"Hey, strangers in town," the hot waitress called when they opened the door, instantly hitting up the new arrivals. She offered them all coffee as they sat down. "I take it you don't get many?" Lily asked curiously, eyebrow raised. "Oh no, we haven't had anyone new in town in ages," the dark haired girl replied.

Before long, the waitress was introduced by Mary Margaret as Ruby and she was joining the group in her tiny red shorts chatting them up. Lily had to give it to the girl for looking so lean and well put together so early in the morning. She herself was still adjusting from her bar tending hours and was used to sleeping late in the afternoon. It was almost discombobulating to be up so early, but she paid attention to their new acquaintance as best she could as she sipped her coffee to stay awake.

"Where are you two from?" Ruby asked the question they were all dying to know. "Boston," Emma and Lily answered together, seeing no reason to lie. Emma let Lily take the reigns, as she was the one who delighted in telling their story to others, fancying their tale as some great romance. Emma hadn't always felt so pessimistic about their relationship, once she had felt the same as Lily. After all, they were two orphaned lovers who found each other on the perpetual look out for their birth parents.

Emma internally cringed, and let Lily tell it her way. "Me and Emma are best friends," she said, darting a conspiratorial look her way. "We met in the same group home," she explained, and Emma did not miss the briefly sympathetic look that flashed across Mary Margaret's gentle, round face.

"We grew up together. We went from place to place once we got out, looking for our parents," she paraphrased. Lily always lied about how they met and had a knack for twisting the truth in general. She liked to romanticize their tale and leave out the facts, such as in reality, the pair had had spent much of their youth searching for one other.

Over the years, Lily and Emma had been separated more than once and yet they always found their way back to each other somehow. Their relationship history was truthfully a tale of manipulation and of an on-again, off-again nature. At times, there was a thin line between love and hate between them. Their relationship was more complicated than Lily let on, and Emma found herself resenting the dishonesty this time rather than appreciating the way she dressed things up. She didn't say anything though.

"So are you guys staying, or just visiting?" Mary Margaret inquired. "Well," Lily said, looking towards Emma for confirmation. "We'll be staying for a little while, I should think," she cautiously answered. "So long as we can find a place to sleep," Emma said forlornly and Mary Margaret laughed.

"I think I can help with that," Ruby kindly offered. "I can ask Granny about a room for you two," she said. Lily looked at the lean waitress with appreciation and admired the red streaks in her beautiful, long hair. The toothy grin she hid was behind red lips so starkly in contrast to her white skin, and Lily found she liked the subtle curve of her lips. "We would appreciate it so much," she said meaningfully.

After a small breakfast of eggs and toast and a grilled cheese for Emma, they were following Ruby to the bed and breakfast ran by the infamous Granny. Eugene Lucas stepped out from behind a door, and was standing behind the inn keeper's desk just as they walked up. "Granny, these two want to see about a room," Ruby said enthusiastically.

"Really?" Granny's eyes brightened with interest, and she looked the two women up and down and found nothing untoward or unpresentable about them. "Do you want a room with a forest view, or square?" She asked excitedly, fumbling through her drawers in search of her log book and keys. It had been so long since strangers had come to town, everyone would be talking about the two's arrival in hours. Granny would be sure of it.

"Normally there's an up-charge fee for the square," she said, dropping the log book on the counter. She motioned for Lily to come forwards, and she started filling out the dusty volume. "But since rent is due, I'll go ahead and waive it," she offered and Emma smiled. "Square's fine," she said, and Granny's hand fluttered excitedly to her chest where her heart was beating rapidly. "I've forgotten my manners, of course," she said. "My name's Eugene, and I guess you know my granddaughter already. Who are you two young ladies?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lily said with a grin. "I'm Lily, and this is Emma," she answered, and just at that moment the bell over the front door to the inn rang. A short man in a black suit, limping with a finely crafted, wooden cane came through the door. "Emma?" he asked, intruding upon the circle of people at the inn keeper's desk. "What a lovely name," he commented and Emma noticed the friendly vibe in the room was sucked from the air at his arrival.

"Thanks," Emma said unsurely, and exchanged a perplexed look with Lily as they watched the man turn towards Granny and the kind old woman's easy grin vanished from her face as she yanked a wad of bills out of her purple sweater. "It's all here," she said, her voice stern and laced with tension, offering him the wad of money impatiently.

"Yes, yes, of course it is, dear," he said and accepted the wad, casually tucking it into his trousers pocket. The word that leaped to the forefront of Emma's mind was _dastardly_ , what with the way he easily handled that kind of money and she suspected way more was just a little less than innocent to her.

"You enjoy your stay here, ladies," he said, and left the group at the inn keeper's desk. The bell rang again after his departure. "Who was _that?_ " Lily asked curiously, watching the door with some concern. "That's Mr. Gold," Ruby answered, going to the window to peak out after him. "He owns this place," she explained. "What, the inn?" Emma inquired. "No, the town," Granny answered the new comers with a tone of finality. She shook her head, and smiled brightly at the two young women again. "But never mind him, just how long will you two be staying?" she asked.

"A week, at least," Emma answered. Ruby smiled secretly at Lily from behind the blonde. "We're still deciding," Lily offered, and accepted the ornate key that Granny extended her way. "Great!" Granny said, "Welcome to Storybrooke. I hope you two will like it here, and if you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask."

 ***~*~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~*~***

It was two days later that Emma met the little town's mayor.

Emma found herself back at the diner they'd started in. She enjoyed coming by an easy grilled cheese in the morning, what could she say. She and Lily went straight to the room from Granny and unpacked, and the rest of their day and the following one they spent exploring the little town. They saw many people, but none that particularly caught their eye. Everyone in this town seemed perfectly normal, content. Everyone was friendly. The only lead they had was Mr. Gold, a figure both of the women found suspicious. So far, though, neither of them had witnessed him do anything... magical. In all honesty, the girls had no idea _what_ they were really looking for until August returned. It left them both feeling ill at ease.

Emma was sitting at a booth by herself, reading the daily newspaper for clues. Lily was still asleep back at the inn. Emma heard someone place a drink on the table before her, and she put the newspaper down long enough to see it was a hot cocoa with cinnamon, and glanced up at Ruby. "Hey, I didn't order this," she said as Ruby turned to leave, and the brunette smirked and nodded her head towards the bar.

A shaggy, blonde headed man sat at the bar in a leather jacket with a considerable growth of five o'clock shadow on his jaw. "I know, _he_ did. You have an admirer, and so _soon_ ," she said with a knowing grin. Emma rolled her green eyes. "The last thing on my mind is romance," she remarked with disdain, partly to herself, and Ruby shrugged. "Such a waste," the brunette sighed and Emma shook her head. She put down her newspaper, picked up the mug of hot cocoa, and approached the stranger at the bar.

"Look, I don't know who you are or what your game is, but I am not here to flirt," she forcefully declared to him. "So thank you for the hot chocolate, but no thanks," she said, setting the mug down beside him. The stranger blinked at her innocently, then grinned an uncomfortably charming, straight white teethed smile.

"Graham is my name, and the name of the game is I'm the sherrif of this here town," he said with a drawl, mimicking the old time western movies. Emma found a smile unwillingly making its way to her face. "I wouldn't be doing right by my duty as sherrif if I didn't try and find out all about the new arrivals to town," he pointed out. "In fact, I was just trying to be neighborly by ordering you the hot cocoa, Ms. Swan," he said slyly. "You're the one who jumped to conclusions about my good intentions," he remarked suggestively. Emma wasn't normally one to blush, but her embarrassment at making a fool of herself was getting the best of her.

It was at that moment that someone approached the two from behind. "Yes, if not to flirt, what exactly _did_ bring you to our little town, Ms. Swan?" A silky voice inquired, and Emma turned to find the owner of the voice to be a beautiful, if very angry looking, domineering woman in a dark, sensible pants suit. "How do you guys already know who I am?" she asked, bewildered and more than a little caught off guard. She had never met either of them yet, but if she wasn't mistaken, she thought she caught Graham flash guilty eyes the brunette's way.

"Storybrooke doesn't get a lot of visitors, I'm afraid," the beautiful business woman said. "You'll find that news travels fast in this town," she explained. "Especially with you girls over at Granny's now," Graham added mischievously. Obviously, there was still a lot to be learned about this little town and its in and outs. For instance, Emma started to say, "I hate to be rude, but I don't believe we've met yet actually..."

"Where are my manners?" Graham chided himself, interrupting the blonde, and tsked. "This is the lovely Regina Mills, Madame Mayor of Storybrooke." Regina bowed her head in greeting, but her smile did not reach her eyes and quite frankly, it stretched so big and fake across her face that Emma thought it must hurt.

"It's a pleasure, I'm sure," Regina said, and took a seat on the other side of the sheriff. "But I believe we interrupted you, Ms. Swan," she said, "You were just explaining what you were doing in town?" She had said 'in town,' but the tone of her voice implied, _'What are you doing in_ _ **my**_ _town?'_

"Please, call me Emma," the blonde said, searching for something to say. She decided to drink the now lukewarm cocoa and slid onto the bar stool next to Graham. She decided to tell a white lie of her own in an impulsive fit of rebellion against Lily's romanticized version of their story. It was partly because she loathed talking about being abandoned and could never make growing up an orphan sound as charming a tale as Lily could.

"Can you guys keep a secret?" Emma asked, voice lowered as she glanced around the diner. There were only a few other patrons, and they were seated in the booths a few rows down from their spot at the bar. Graham looked curiously at Emma, then Regina, and they both nodded their assent to the blonde. "My business partner and I are looking for someone," Emma confessed.

"Oh, do tell," Graham immediately replied, his eyes sparking in excitement. As the local law officer, he would surely be enlisted in her search and was very interested in spending some time with the blonde. He undoubtedly found her quite fetching, much to the chagrin of the brunette sitting beside him. Regina could tell when the sheriff was flirting from a mile off, because she was usually the one with whom he chose to flirt. "The less you know, the better," Emma replied mysteriously, and Regina found herself suppressing her ire at the comment.

"Just what exactly is it that you _do_ , Ms. Swan?" Regina asked, ignoring her request from earlier, and her tone sounded more than a little annoyed at the secrecy the blonde was attempting. Emma's eyes narrowed imperceptibly, wondering why this so-called _Madame Mayor_ felt so entitled as to be so damn _prying_ into her private life. "I find people," she said shortly. "I'm a bail bonds person," Emma elaborated, "I track down people to collect a fee. Lily and I have reason to believe one of our perps is laying low around here."

"Well, I'm sure you won't find anyone of that caliber here in Storybrooke, Ms. Swan," Regina said dismissively with a little smugness. "How absurd!" she commented rather harshly, and gave a little condescending laugh as she stood. "You'll find the people of Storybrooke are good, kind people, and they would never run from the law like some common, low-life fugitive," the brunette said haughtily. "Sheriff, if you don't mind, please do come by my office later, we have something to discuss," she said, turning to leave the diner. She bid her goodbyes, and Emma watched her leave with eyes narrowed dangerously at the gall of that woman.

Emma couldn't help but feel personally insulted a little at the mayor's parting line. She knew all too well that she'd been forced to leave a few different towns in such a fashion because of Lily, slinking away in the middle of the night to escape the consequences of her girlfriend's actions. Add that to the growing list of reasons she no longer trusted or lusted after Lily.

"What's her deal?" the blonde asked after the mayor departed. She was more than a little annoyed at the insult to her tracking abilities, fake case or not. Graham evaluated the miffed expression on the blonde's face and concluded she looked even more attractive when she was flustered.

He decided to tease her a little more. "Regina can be a little prickly from time to time, don't mind her," he dismissed the brunette and grinned at Emma. "So, a bail bondsman, hm?" he asked. "Bail bonds person," she muttered under her breath. "That must be exciting," he said. "Oh, you haven't heard the half of it," Emma chuckled. "But of course you being an officer of the law, and Regina the mayor, I trust you guys will be discreet about me and Lily's real reason for being here," she asked, quirking an eyebrow at Graham. "Your secret's safe with me," he said.

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _Oh no! August has left them. The question is, when will he return? Also, if you are holding your breath for some Gremma action, you can just keep right on holding it there, buddy. I never cared for EmmaxGraham, and there is frankly no room for it in this story! Sorry to disappoint, haha. Not to worry though, I have good news. Henry is going to make an appearance soon. . ._


	9. Henry

_**A/N:** Italics read as a flashback in this chapter._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Once Upon A Time or any of the characters or snippets of scenes borrowed from the series contained within. Just borrowing, and I hope you all enjoy._

* * *

 **Chapter 9**

 **Henry**

The night August left the two girls behind, he didn't get far. He only wound up one town over, drunk off his ass in a crappy motel room. "Dear Pinocchio, if you spend all your life running from the past, you are doomed to make the same mistakes," a voice said to August from nowhere, startling him half to death.

He was sitting on his motel bed in a green, fuzzy towel when the bathroom door to his bedroom swung open, and out walked a familiar figure to the writer in a three piece, light gray suit. The man's long beard was combed in neat tracks down the front of his suit, and the top of his bald head shined in the dim light of the TV, making the Apprentice look as wise as his many years as he stood before a dumbstruck August.

"How shameful," the bearded old man tsked. "Surely you must know by now that the only way to help yourself is to help Emma Swan. You have to help her break the curse, whether or not you are ashamed of yourself is of no consequence. Need I remind you, that all you have to do to return to your former, fleshy self is to remain brave, truthful, and unselfish as the Blue Fairy bade you do to retain your true form."

August hung his head in shame, unable to admit that it wasn't in his nature to be unselfish anymore. Selfish was pretty much the epitome of what August had been his whole life in this world, looking out for himself first and always. No one else was going to, and August had discovered that sad fact as a child in this harsh world without magic he'd found himself in.

Even though he was sick, his leg was turning into wood, and he desperately needed magic, August stubbornly wasn't ready to turn over a new leaf in life and let go of his old ways. He was drowning his sorrows with a bottle of vodka, and the Apprentice made the poisonous liquid disappear without a trace with an impatient swish of his hand that caused August to scowl.

"You're of no use to anyone in this state," the Apprentice said darkly, not wishing for things to be deterred or derailed off course because of August's inability to pull himself together. He was just going to have to assist the poor slob. "Clean yourself up, and be sure to deliver that book of yours to Emma's son, Henry," he said matter-of-fact, and August's head shot up in disbelief.

"Emma?! Has a kid?!" His blue eyes were wide and astonished. "Since when?" he demanded to know. "You ought to know when," the Apprentice said with a judgmental look in his eye. "You're the one that landed her in that prison, where she had him," he explained, and if August felt like he couldn't hate himself more, he was wrong. August hung his head. He felt like he'd been punched.

He told himself he had no way of knowing when he had Baelfire make that call that their savior and princess could possibly be pregnant, but it didn't make him feel any better. Poor Emma, August thought. She has a ten year old kid she had to give up because of me, he guiltily reflected. The Apprentice had never bothered to tell him about the child before in their time together over seas, preferring always to let things come to light at precisely the right time, and not a moment before they were essential details.

"Yes, and this boy is the key to Emma breaking that curse, and she must break the curse," the powerful magician said. "But in order to break the curse, first she must believe. I'm afraid you're in no shape to help her in that department, so we will just have to leave that very important task to her son. He is the one with the real power to make her believe," he explained, and waved his hand, and August was suddenly dressed decent.

"Come with me," the Apprentice commanded and August stood, unstable on his feet. The elder man rolled his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with a pained sigh. He raked his hand down his face, and looked around the small motel room. He spotted the item he was needing; the story book of fairy tales was on August's bedside table. The writer had stolen an opportunity to snatch it back when they were all packing for their trip. The magician levitated it from across the room into August's clumsy hands.

The Apprentice made a magical doorway appear, and he gestured for August to walk though. When they emerged on the other side of the door, it was dark outside and the dim light of a orange street lamp illuminated them. They were in Storybrooke. "Leave it just there, for the boy to find," the gray haired magician urged, indicating a lone bus stop bench. This time, when August leaned down to put the book under the bench, the Apprentice produced a tin, brown box from thin air and August dropped the book into the box and latched the lid shut to protect it from the elements until the morning.

"What now?" he asked, his words slightly slurred. "Now, we're going to work on you," the magician said, and in the next moment, the two had vanished in a puff of air.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

It was unfortunate circumstances that lead Henry Mills to go searching for his birth mother.

Henry had been inexplicably unhappy for as long as he could remember. The sameness of each passing day mystified and baffled him. His mother never really seemed to be all there, distracted, sad, and alone. Henry may have been young, but he was intuitive and he wasn't blind to the fact that the townspeople feared his mother.

His mother had no friends to speak of (neither did he), and she worked tirelessly as the mayor of their small town. Despite her unpopularity, she was almost always kept busy at work for one function or another and often times didn't return home until late. On his therapy nights, however, she unfailingly always made time to take him to dinner before his session and escort him to see Dr. Hopper herself.

However, most nights of the week until his mother got off work, Henry was left to fend for himself. Henry grew up a latch key kid, coming home alone at the end of a school day to an empty house more often than not. Henry was a smart kid and did his own homework and learned how to microwave all the basic essentials his mother left well stocked in their kitchen. He flipped through comic books and watched TV to pass the time.

The mayor didn't particularly worry about Henry's safety because she trusted him not to go gallivanting about after school, mainly because she knew first hand that the boy didn't have a social life to speak of. None of his classmates ever invited him to play at their house after school, and Henry never asked to have any of them over. All his life, he had been treated differently than the rest of the children because he was the feared mayor's son. No one slighted Henry, lest it get back to his mother.

Besides feeling lonely all the time and receiving the sharp end of his mother's tongue more often then he liked, the tipping point came for Henry one day when he off handedly mentioned an accident he had in Ms. Blanchard's class at dinner. Regina flew off the handle and went down to his school the next morning to demand his favorite teacher's termination. Ms. Blanchard ended up suspended without pay for a whole month, and Henry visibly drooped in the sweet, young teacher's absence.

Ms. Blanchard was one of the only teachers that encouraged the other kids to include him and treat him normal. The kids excluded him because he acted like an egg head and they thought he thought he was better than them because he lived in the mayor's mansion. If only Henry could share with them how miserable it made him to live in that big, lonely house with no one to care for him.

Henry didn't trust his mother after that and was convinced that she didn't really love him. That all ceased to matter one day though shortly after the school term started and the monotony of his usual routine was smashed to pieces forever for Henry. Fall was upon the small town, and orange and red leaves littered the street around the bus stop when Henry walked up one morning.

He noticed immediately under the bench that there was a brown rectangular box, and looked around to see if someone was closeby, perhaps someone had forgotten it. There was no one else at the bus stop though, so Henry got down on his knees and opened the box up.

Inside, he discovered a mysterious volume of fairy tale stories and his life changed for the better. The more he read, the more he was startled to recognize how the illustrations in the book resembled some of the people that he lived with in town. Ruby from the diner looked exactly like the Red Riding Hood of the stories.

The more he lugged the book around town with him obsessively reading it, the more he started to see parallels and connect the dots. He was able to start piecing things together and began filling his therapist Dr. Hopper in, whom he had always liked and now knew why, seeing as he was Jiminy cricket, Pinocchio's conscience.

When Henry turned to the last few pages of the book, he stared unblinkingly down at the pages before him. He had received this book around the same time the two new strangers came to town. The last pages of the book revealed to him that a woman named Emma, Snow White and Prince Charming's long lost daughter, was destined to break the Evil Queen's curse in this world. Henry became a true believer in the book then. It was too much of a coincidence. Henry could remember meeting the woman and her friend, Lily, for the first time.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

 _While he didn't get into any shenanigans after school normally, Henry did sometimes stop by the local ice cream shoppe on his way home. He stepped into the shoppe one day only to hear the two women laughing, sitting at a table together. The brunette Lily had an ice cream sundae before her and Emma sat with a huge waffle cone of pink, strawberry ice cream in hand. She was rushing to lick it before it melted down the side and made her fingers sticky._

 _"Hey," Henry said, boldly coming over to introduce himself to the new strangers in town. Henry was after all a very curious and friendly kid, if given the chance. "You must be Ms. Swan and Ms. Page," he said. "It depends on who's asking," the spunky blonde said to him. "Where's your mom, kid? You shouldn't be alone," she chastised. Lily gave a little chuckle. "Please, call us Lily and Emma, you'll make us feel old otherwise," she said with her nose wrinkled in distaste. Lily was not the best with children, had never desired any and didn't appreciate how needy little ones could be. She liked other people's kids just fine, just so long as she could give them back without a moment's hesitation._

 _"Didn't your mom teach you not to talk to strangers?" Lily asked of the child. "Well, my name's Henry, so I guess we're not strangers anymore," he said, beaming as he introduced himself to the pair. He clutched his peanut butter cup ice cream cone in hand and turned to leave. "No really, kid, where's your mom?" Emma asked with concern, looking out the front window of the shoppe for any sign of a parent. She found none._

 _"She's at work," Henry replied glumly, peering out the window with Emma as if looking would somehow magically get his mother to appear, like he wished she would to walk home with him. Instead, Emma looked down at him with worried, big green eyes and decided her conscience wouldn't let her rest unless she escorted the poor kid home. "Alright kid, let's get you home," she said with a put upon sigh._

 _"I just live right up the road. I'll be okay," the boy said, and Emma pursed her lips in indecision. Maybe he would be okay. He wasn't her kid, after all. It wasn't her responsibility to make sure he made it home alright. "Okay, but get home quick, kid. Your mom could be worried if she got home and you weren't there," she explained hurriedly to him, walking him to the front door of the shoppe. The little boy shrugged his shoulders, unphased, and simply said, "I'm not her real son, you know. I'm adopted. She's not gonna miss me."_

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

Henry had figured out through his reading that the Evil Queen didn't have a son, so he couldn't be her real son. But then, if she wasn't his mother, who was? It was almost Halloween and the class was busy decorating for the open house that weekend. Ms. Blanchard left the classroom to go supervise some task in the hallway, and Henry seized his opportunity and "borrowed" his teacher's credit card. He was determined to track down the identity of his missing mother and nothing was going to stop him. He rushed home that evening and found the website he'd been searching for, and before long he had a name.

He was shocked and excited when he found out the name was Emma Swan. The blonde haired stranger in town. _She's here, and she doesn't know that I'm her son!_ Henry was more than happy to bring that fact to her attention, and soon.


	10. Happy Halloween

_**A/N:** As always, thank you for your favorites/follows/reviews! This was one of my favorite chapters to write, so I would appreciate any feedback that you might have now that we're seeing more of the other characters. The chapters should get a little longer now, fair warning :) Please review!_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Once Upon a Time characters or plot lines, I am just borrowing them. I do not profit from this story in any way, but I sure do feel rich in love when I get reviews lol *hint**hint*_

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

 **Happy Halloween**

On Halloween night, Emma and Lily were at Granny's diner. After a week had come and gone with no sign of August, the two women decided to remain on in the small, cozy town for awhile longer. Lily still held hope that August would return with all the answers to their questions, but Emma had angrily written him off. In her mind, he was just another false friend who had gotten Lily's hopes up for nothing. At least Emma had never really expected to find her parents. Emma thought she was being incredibly patient about Lily's naive hope that the man who abandoned them so unceremoniously would return.

Emma thought that sticking around three weeks longer than originally planned was more than enough time for August to change his mind and come back. But he hadn't, and Emma and Lily were frustratingly no closer to any answers then when they'd begun their journey. Emma was ready to call this adventure a bust and head back home. It was a point of contention between the two friends. Once again they were at odds, this time with Emma wanting to leave and Lily wanting to stay and wait for August a little while longer.

Halloween, of course, was the perfect evening for a child to go missing. Mary Margaret came rushing into the diner followed by a few other teachers from school. "We can't find Henry again," she said, raising her voice so that she could be heard over the spooky Halloween music Granny was playing for the holiday.

Emma and Lily had only recently learned about about Henry's troubling habit of disappearing from Mary Margaret. She said that he ran away from home perhaps once a month or so. It made Emma worry, thinking about her interaction with the kid previously. She felt sorry for him now knowing Regina was his mother and didn't blame him for going amiss from time to time. _God knows I'd throttle him if he was my son and he made me worry like that!_

Emma decided to leave with Mary Margaret's search party, and Lily stayed behind at the diner to get sloshed with some of the other patrons already well on their way. Emma broke off from the search party and dipped into Gold's Pawn shop. It was there that she was standing when Regina burst into the shop, out of breath. "Gold! So help me-" she started shouting, but ceased when she saw the curly haired blonde in her midst. "Ms. Swan," she said, dipping her head in acknowledgment. It was that moment that Gold strolled through the curtain from the back room, ornate cane in hand.

"What seems to be troubling you, Madam Mayor?" the mysterious man said in a wheedling tone. "My boy's gone missing! I can't find him anywhere! You need to help me," she reeled off in a shrill voice. "Or so help me," she lowered her voice in a threatening timber, and Emma took a step towards the hostile mayor.

"Don't worry, I'll help you find your son," she said. Her green eyes were wide and her forehead wrinkled in worry. She could feel the panic and dread radiating off the woman before her and wanted to assuage the hostile woman's fears, but could do little to do so.

"Thank you, Ms. Swan," the mayor said, sniffing indignantly. She turned eyes towards Gold once again, "Can I count on your assistance in this task as well, Mr. Gold?" "Of course, Madam Mayor," he said, tight lipped as he went to retrieve his black coat and swung it over his shoulders loosely. "Let us make haste," he quipped, leading the ladies to the door.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

Hours later, the town had still not seen hide nor hair of the mayor's son Henry. Their search party had extended outside of town and into the forest by now, and Emma was among those in the forest. She recognized the lonely stretch of road she and Lily had rode into town on where they last saw August when she saw the sign up ahead. "LEAVING STORYBROOKE"

As she passed the sign, Emma walked along the road calling out for Henry. "Psst!" She heard a noise off to her left, on the side of the road behind the bushes. As she passed the bushes, the forest trees were tall and closer together, but Emma could just make out the shape of a ten year old boy. "Henry?! Is that you?" she asked, shining her flash light towards the figure. Sure enough, the boy raised his hand to shield his eyes and called out, "Emma?"

"Yeah, it's me, kid," she said, calling to him. "Why don't you come outta there and come back to town?" she asked. She lowered her flashlight and stepped closer to the tree line, not wanting to shout. "Your mom is worried sick, kid."

"She's not my real mom," he said defiantly. He started walking towards Emma, and came to stand in front of her before his next words. "You are," he plainly stated. He looked up at her with a determined look in his eyes and Emma froze. The guileless look on his little face told her he meant her no harm, he was telling the truth.

"I don't have a kid," she dumbly replied, looking into his brown eyes that instantly took her back and made her think of a thief from her past. Someone who had stole her heart. She sucked in a sharp breath, experiencing an emotion so powerful it felt like a blow to her solar plexus. "Did you give up a baby ten years ago?" the little boy asked. "That was me."

Emma's vision turned tunnel like, black at the edges, and she honestly thought she might pass out. "Woah! You okay?!" Henry rushed towards his mother, and Emma held a hand out towards him, pleading him to hold back. "Just a sec," she said, and staggered away in the opposite direction.

She balanced herself with her knees slightly bent and her hands resting on them for support, staring down at the concrete under her feet. She fought to catch her breath, suddenly realizing how close she was to hyperventilating. How she had dreaded the idea of ever seeing the boy that baby came to be! He was like a ghost before her, come back to haunt her. Emma despaired. She thought she had made the right choice in giving him up, but he seemed so miserable and the fact made her heart ache. _Was I wrong?_

"Don't you see why I had to bring you out here to tell you? They can't leave Storybrooke, but you can." Emma looked up and around, straining her eyes and ears for any sounds of the others. Maybe Henry was right. There had been others in the forest, so how come she could not and had not seen anyone in quite some time? She and Henry were the only ones around for miles. "What're you talking about, kid?"

"We need to get you back into town," she said, turning back around towards Henry. She approached him with a stern face and said, "More importantly, back to your mom." "I won't go," the boy protested. "Not until you hear me out," he said. "I don't know why I'm arguing with you, kid, I'm the grown up and you have to do what I say. I'll just make you go back," she threatened.

"I'll tell them you're the one who kidnapped me," he challenged her. "And they'll believe you, because I'm an outsider and I happen to be your birth mother..." Emma trailed off, putting the pieces together. She narrowed her eyes at her son, impressed with his creativity and wily attitude.

"You're bluffing, kid. You wouldn't do that," she said, sizing the kid up. Henry's face morphed into a huge grin. "Try me," he impishly said. "You're pretty good," Emma said, "but here's the thing. There's not a lot I'm good at in life, but I do have one skill. Call it a super power, but I can _always_ tell when someone is lying to me. And you, kid, are."

She started to grab onto his shoulder and frog march him forward, but he held back and swung out of her grasp on his jacket. "You have to promise to go somewhere with me first," the ten year old bargained. "Uh huh, no way!" Emma cried, already exasperated.

How did she get mixed up in this, standing in front of a kid she had spent the last ten years trying to forget? He was the by product of her brief time with Neal, and she was terrified and astonished to see him standing in front of her. She gave him up, a closed adoption, never to be seen or heard of again because she thought it would be best for him. She wasn't capable of being a mother then, and she wasn't necessarily loving the idea now.

The blonde sighed, knowing when to choose her battles. She threw her hands up in defeat, "Okay! I'll go with you. But then we go straight to your mother's." She started walking back towards town and after a step or two, she looked over her shoulder. "You coming?"

Henry swallowed and bobbed his head in encouragement, following Emma back into town. He loved her long curly blonde hair and thought how pretty his real mother was. She looked young and scared when she saw him. He hoped to change that by showing her what he had seen in his book. She was here to save everyone, even him.

Once they neared town, Henry made them take a detour to a small, abandoned play place on the sand near the docks. He got down on his hands and knees under one of the play things and dug, and when he came back to the bench he'd left Emma to wait for him, his knees and hands were covered in dirt but his face was beaming. He deposited the dusty volume of fairy tale stories on Emma's lap and at first she didn't recognize the book.

As soon as she opened the first page, however, shock was written all over her face. She flipped through the pages and narrowed her eyes in Henry's direction. "Where did you get this?" she asked suspiciously. "I found it! Now do you think you're ready?" the little boy asked. He sat down beside her on the bench, and she looked at him, confused. "Ready for some fairy tales?" she asked, her eyebrow raised.

"They're not just fairy tales, they're true stories. Everything in this book actually happened," Henry proclaimed. "Of course they did," Emma said distractedly. She started to get a sinking feeling in her stomach, having heard this line once before. August had given the boy the book. August knew who Henry was, and still he brought her to this place.

Emma tasted the bile of betrayal at the back of her throat, and distractedly wondered where the writer could be for the thousandth time this month. She always knew he was keeping secrets.

 _Who knew what you didn't know could hurt so damn much?_ She thought he was her friend, and instead, he'd brought her to the one place on Earth she was terrified to be; in front of her long lost son, being asked questions. It was only a matter of time before he started asking the hard questions that she wouldn't be able to answer.

Emma clearly didn't look convinced. "Use your super power, see that I'm not lying," Henry urged, looking intently at her face. She smelled like leather and lavender, and Henry decided he liked her scent. Emma darted a searching look his way, and then sighed with exasperation. "Just because you believe something is true doesn't make it so," she said. "That's exactly how it works, you should know better than anyone," Henry said. "Why's that?"

"Because you're in the book," he explained calmly. "Kid, you've got problems," Emma said with a dark little chuckle and Henry lightly quipped, "Yep, and you're gonna fix them." Emma blinked, surprised. This kid obviously did need her help, because what he was saying was totally bizarre.

Even if she was inclined to believe in magic (which she wasn't), she wasn't crazy enough to think she herself was magical. _I would know if I had magic, wouldn't I?_ She could never believe she had fallen out of a story book world, not when this was her life, lead astray by a false friend into a trap with a woman who had broken her heart. She felt anguish that she trusted yet another person she shouldn't have. What did August have to gain by leading her to her lost son?

Suddenly, Emma felt fiercely protective of the kid in front of her. Despite the crazy claims he was making, she was proud to notice he seemed like a smart kid. "How am I supposed to help?" she asked, deciding to play along with the kid.

He was obviously a little disturbed, and who could blame him for retreating into some fairy tale world in order to get away from the reality of living with Regina? "You're here to break the curse, of course!" the ten year old cried enthusiastically, and Emma glanced back towards town, where she could just make out the clock tower through the trees.

"Okay, how am I supposed to do that?" She peered more closely at the clock, and added, "Is it something we can discuss back in town? It's getting late, it's almost... 8:15?" she asked in confusion, squinting at the clock. Henry followed her gaze up to the clock, realizing why she was confused. "That clock hasn't moved my whole life," Henry said, shrugging nonchalantly. "Time is frozen here," he said.

"What?" Emma asked. "The Evil Queen did it with her curse," Henry explained, and Emma nodded along. "Of course, the curse again," she agreed. "Yeah, the Evil Queen sent everyone from the Enchanted Forrest here," he told her. "Wait, you mean an evil queen sent a bunch of fairy tale characters here?" she asked for clarification from her imaginative kid. "Yeah, and now they're trapped here," he confirmed.

"Frozen in time? Stuck in Storybrooke, Maine..." she said slowly, kneeling to look her son right in the eye. "That's what you're going with?" she asked him, her eyebrows raised and her head tilted sympathetically to the left. Henry frowned at her, sensing her skepticism. "It's true!" he proclaimed. "Why doesn't everyone just leave?" she asked. "They can't," Henry said simply. "When they try, bad things happen," he told her.

"Speaking of bad things, let's get you back into town now," she said persuasively. "Everyone is looking for you," she added. Henry hung his head, not wanting to go back home to his mother. He dragged his feet as he went back to his hiding place under the play place and hid his book of stories again.

"Why do you have to bury it?" Emma asked. "I can't risk the evil queen finding it," he said. "I can't keep it at my house. I'm protecting it," he said with a puffed out chest and an enormous sense of pride.

"Why?" Emma asked. "My mom's the Evil Queen, duh," the boy explained. Henry was willing to do whatever he had to in order to help Emma defeat his mother, which left Emma feeling quite confused. Sure she was a pill to swallow, but was Regina really as bad as he made her seem? Henry walked back into town thrilled to actually be walking beside his birth mother. The first person to see them was none other than Dr. Hopper and his dog, Pongo.

"Henry! Where have you been?" his therapist asked, rushing up to the pair. Dr. Hopper was dressed in a non-threatening clown outfit for the holiday, and his big red feet came slapping up the pavement to them with Pongo on his heels. His ensemble was complete with red paint around his mouth and a big, red nose and he wore comical suspenders with a flower attached that probably squirted water, not that Dr. Hopper would ever actually spray anyone since he was so polite. "I'm sorry Archie. I got dared to go into the forest alone by some kids, and I wanted to prove I was brave," Henry lied.

The clown leaned down in front of Henry, and said, "You missed your session today, too. Henry, what have I told you about lying? Giving into one's dark side never accomplishes anything," he warned, which sounded like very heavy material for a ten year old. Emma's eyes widened.

"Oookay," she mumbled uncomfortably, interrupting the two. "I'd better get him home, huh?" she gestured, pointing the direction of the mayor's manor. "Of course, I'll go and let everyone else know," Dr. Hopper said, heading off in the direction of the forest they'd just come from.

Emma leveled Henry with a shrewd look once the therapist was gone. "So he's your shrink, huh?" Emma asked, raising an eyebrow at her troubled kid. "I'm not crazy," he automatically defended himself. "Calm down, kid, I didn't say that," Emma said. "He just doesn't seem cursed. Maybe he's just trying to help you."

"He's the one who needs help," Henry said knowingly. "Because he doesn't know," he explained to Emma. "He doesn't know he's a fairy tale character?" she asked. "None of them remember who they are, it's really sad," the ten year old said.

"Well, who is he supposed to be?" Emma asked gamely. "He's Jiminy Cricket," Henry confidently proclaimed. "Oh yeah, the thing about lying," Emma said, and started walking with Henry up the street to his house. "I should have guessed," she said.

 *** ~ *~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~*~*~***

When they arrived at the mayor's manor, Regina was beside herself with happiness when she flung open the door to reveal Henry standing there. Regina tugged him into a bear hug that made it hard for Emma to believe the kid felt so unloved. "Henry!" she cried. "Where have you been?" She pulled him back far enough to get a look at him.

Henry was dressed like a ninja, black outfit with a blue sash and now with more light, Emma could see what was supposed to be a blue mask tied loosely around his neck, looking more like a limp necklace now. He had a plastic sword tied onto his back, but no candy bag in sight.

"I went to find my real mom!" he cried, and rushed past his mother and Graham in the entrance hall and up the stairs to his blue bedroom. Regina looked shocked, realizing Emma the unwelcome blonde was on her front porch suddenly. "Ms. Swan... _You're_ his birth mother?"

Emma looked guiltily at Regina's barely contained expression of panic and righteous anger. "You're his birth mother, and you're telling me this whole time you've known?!" Regina demanded to know, her voice raising. "Just what are you up to?!"

Graham took a step forward and put his hand on Regina's bare shoulder, and murmured her name, effectively reigning her back into the house where they could speak more in private. She shrugged his hand off impatiently, and her smile was forced when she spoke next. "Why don't you come in Ms. Swan and we'll all talk about this over drinks?" Regina calmly asked, and her offer sounded more like a command.

Emma found herself stepping into the stately manor behind the mayor and sheriff. She followed them into Regina's study, where a felt topped green bar stood near the window and Graham headed straight towards it familiarly. He poured Regina a drink without asking her what she'd have, and poured two tumblers of crown for himself and Emma.

Graham was dressed as Zorro in all black and black boots. The only thing missing from his ensemble was the black hood that he'd discarded on the entrance hall table when things got serious about Henry.

Regina and Emma were dressed in normal clothes, not at all interested in playing at dress up for the holiday. Regina wore a black, sleeveless button up top that cinched at the waist and gray slacks and her lips were a strikingly dark beautiful color. Emma wore her signature red jacket and jeans. "I didn't know," Emma finally admitted, standing uncertainly beside the green felt topped bar. She stared tremulously into Regina's dark, formidable gaze across the room.

Regina was standing rigid leaning against a wood grained book case, and Graham was lounging on the feinting couch in between the two women sipping his drink. "You didn't _know_ he was yours, and yet you've been here for weeks watching him?" Regina asked, her tone strident and accusatory.

Emma floundered, having no explanation whatsoever as to how he ended up in this small town, adopted by such a horrible woman. "I told you Regina, I came here on a case, not to hunt down some kid I gave up," she harshly said. She downed some of her drink, and Regina stared moodily across the room at her blonde adversary. "How did he even find you?" Regina asked.

"I didn't ask," Emma blanched, forgetting to ask such important questions was such a rookie mistake. But then again, she had never been a mom before and wasn't necessarily prepared to be one now.

"When I adopted him, he was only 3 weeks old," Regina said. "Those records were _supposed_ to be sealed," the mayor said to Emma. "It was supposed to be a closed adoption. I was told... the mother," at this she shot a judgmental look Emma's way, "did not want any contact." Emma looked towards the study door, as if guiltily trying to pinpoint Henry's location in the house. "That's right," she confirmed for Regina.

"And the father?" Graham asked. Emma knocked back another drink and simply replied, "There was one." "Do I need to worry about him?" Regina asked, protective like a mother cat of her offspring. "No, he doesn't even know he exists," Emma admitted to both of them.

"Do I need to worry about you?" Regina asked, her eyes narrowing menacingly Emma's way as she sized the blonde up. Nothing was going to get in Regina's way when it came to securing her family's happiness. She was ready to dispose of Ms. Swan without a moment's hesitation if the opportunity arose.

"No, there's nothing to worry about here," Emma said, shrugging her shoulders. "Nothing's changed. I'm not exactly cut out to be a mom," she said.

"Mm. Did I hear something through the grapevine that you and your partner came up empty in your man search?" the mayor inquired, shooting a furtive glance Graham's way. Emma herself had made up the excuse to the sheriff when he got too nosy one day, asking about the ladies' search and their reasons for staying on in Storybrooke. (What he didn't tell Regina was that he spent much of his time interrogating the blonde in a flirtatious banter back an d forth.)

Emma smacked her lips as she finished her drink, and set her empty glass down on the bar. "That's true, the trail went cold," she said. "Then what is keeping you two in Storybrooke, if you don't mind my asking?" Regina asked, and Emma finally started to feel less timid with the alcohol coursing through her veins.

"If you don't mind, _Miss Mayor_ , that's our business," she snarked. Regina visibly bristled at the comment, and set her glass down on the book shelf forcefully. "Excuse me, but I think seeing to my son's well-being is definitely _my_ business," she snapped. She advanced on Emma, and Graham held back, ready to spring into action if need be. "I'm not-" Emma started to say, but Regina cut her off.

"No, you don't get to say anything. You gave up that right when you signed him away," she nastily said. "Do you _know_ what a closed adoption is? It's what you asked for, Ms. Swan. You have no legal right to Henry and you're going to be held to that. Henry may want you in his life, but I don't. I won't have you here in town just so you can take my son away from me," Regina was nearly shouting by the end, and Graham made to take a step towards her to calm her. "Regina, calm down-" he tried to soothe her, recognizing her wrath forthcoming.

"Hey lady!" Emma barked back, just as ferocious. "Back off. You're not ordering me anywhere because I am _not_ here to steal your son," she growled.

"Thanks to me, you have him back now," she sniffed indignantly. "And if you don't mind, I'll be going now. I'll show myself out," the blonde boldly declared, shutting the study's door firmly behind her. She left the mayor's manor and went back home towards Granny's Bed and Breakfast, her blood boiling.

Her anger ebbed though as she walked, and she wondered guiltily for the first time about Lily and what the rest of the town was going to say about this new development at hand. Her worst secret come to light for everyone to cast the first stone.

Although she'd been running from the reality for years, she was just going to have to face up to the fact that she had abandoned a child the same way she had been abandoned. She left him to wonder the same heart breaking questions she'd always wanted to ask, "Why didn't you want me? Why didn't you try and keep me?"

Emma dreaded the morning.


	11. Jailbird Blues

**Chapter 11**

 **Jailbird Blues**

The next morning, Lily had still not returned from her night of livery. Emma hadn't found it strange that Lily wasn't home when she got home last night since Lily was a party animal and Halloween was one of her favorite holidays. She started to get worried though when she woke up the next morning and Lily wasn't passed out on the bed across from hers. The bed was made up and no one had slept in it. Emma jerked on her jeans and found her cell phone in her jacket pocket and started dialing her. It went to voicemail, dead. Emma rolled her eyes since it was typical of Lily, never being responsible enough to plug her phone in at night.

Emma decided to go to Granny's, and since the bug wasn't parked outside, she thought perhaps Lily had headed over there for a hangover cure before her. However, when she stepped into the diner, there was no sign of her bug and she found the Sheriff waiting for her instead. "I've been looking for you," he said.

He was seated at the bar eating a pile of hash browns and eggs, and looked very nonplussed. "Yeah, I can tell you tried real hard," she scoffed, and took a seat beside him. "No, I'm serious," he said, taking a long gulp of his orange juice. "Your partner Lily is being held down at the station," he informed her and Emma choked on the glass of water she'd just ordered, doing a spit take. "What?! What for?!"

"DUI," Graham admitted and Emma stared at him, mouth agape. Could they go absolutely _nowhere_ without Lily getting herself in trouble? _That does it, we're definitely going now,_ Emma angrily thought and her hands clenched into fists. Giving into Lily's whims had always been a bad habit of Emma's.

 _And look where that ended us now_ , Emma thought venomously. She was determined to haul Lily out of this god forsaken place and leave before everyone knew the truth about her. This was their pattern, Lily got in trouble, and they left. This time, she was going to make it work in her favor.

"You want me to take you to her?" Graham asked, eyeing the blonde. She'd gone unnervingly quiet after his news. He was dying to find out what made her tick, and was interested to know what was going on in that beautiful, mysterious head of hers. "No," Emma said quietly. "Where's my car?"

Graham quirked an eyebrow, curious that Emma didn't seem to care her friend was in jail. "It's being held down at the station," he answered, and seeing the question she was afraid to ask on her face, he chuckled, "It's fine. She smashed up our welcome sign out near the town line, but your car got away pretty unscathed so that's good," he explained. "Well, good for you, bad for us," he chuckled. "What?" Emma asked, suddenly curious. Lily had been _leaving_ Storybrooke when this happened? _What the hell?_

"I changed my mind, yeah, please take me to her," the blonde told Graham. He finished up his eggs and hash browns and made to leave with Emma. "This way," he said, leading the way to his police cruiser and he drove them towards the station.

 *** ~* ~ *~*~*~ ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~*~***

When they arrived at the station, Emma was furious. Lily knew she had it in for her the moment she saw her estranged lover. Her jaw was clenched tight and she was quietly simmering in rage, which was never good for Lily. Quiet Emma only meant she was gathering ammunition. Whatever she was about to say, she could bet it would be soul crushing. Unfortunately, Lily had screwed up enough times to tell when Emma was really disappointed in her. This was one of those times, regrettably.

"Emma?" Lily called uncertainly. Emma approached the cell, and her eyes flickered to the dirty looking man in the opposing cell, sitting on the floor. "I'll let you out, but you gotta behave Leroy," Graham said, coming forward with some keys to the drunk's cell. He'd been hauled in for the drunk tank the night before, coming from the same bar Lily had. She was invited to the Rabbit's Hole by Ruby that night after Emma left her at Granny's. The last thing she remembered was taking shots at the bar with Ruby.

Graham wandered from the holding area over to his desk behind a glass partition to give the girls some privacy. Emma looked quite intense when he left, and he wasn't eager to see two women get into it again. He'd had a hell of a time calming Regina down the night before, only to be called in when the town got out of hand that night with all their boozey Halloween parties.

"What the fuck, Lily? Graham said you were _leaving_ Storybrooke," Emma acussed her. "I wasn't!" Lily claimed. "Not without you, not for real," she pleaded, coming to stand in front of Emma and grip the solid black bars seperating them. "Then what were you doing?" the blonde spat, anger evident in her stormy eyes.

"I don't know! I just thought I'd try and find August, I don't know what I was thinking," the brunette admitted. Emma chuckled darkly. "You don't think there was a BETTER time to go off searching on your own, maybe when you were SOBER?" Emma nearly yelled. She had to struggle to get her voice back under her control, and Lily's eyes welled up with tears.

"I didn't mean to," she begged, and Emma turned her back on her. "I can't believe you were gonna leave me," the blonde said and crossed her arms over her chest. Lily stared beseechingly at her back, golden curls tumbling down it. "I wasn't. I'm sorry. I'll do better, Emma," she promised forlornly, and Emma wheeled back around on her heel. "You're damn right you'll do better!" she seethed, and Lily shrank back from her a little and looked guiltily down at the concrete floor. "If you'll just get me out, we can-" she started to say, but Emma cut her off.

"Get you _out_? Why would I get you out?" she asked sharply, her eyebrows furrowing dangerously. Lily's eyes widened in shock. "Now I have you right where I want you, where you can't cause any more trouble," Emma commented and Lily approached the bars once again, clutching at them like life lines. "No, Emma, c'mon," she pleaded. "You can't really leave me here."

"Watch me," Emma defiantly said. She turned her back on Lily. "One night's not gonna kill you, and it'll give you time to think," Emma assured her, and Lily sank onto the bench in her cell in defeat. She didn't say anything else as Emma left her.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~*~*~***

Emma needed to be alone. She paid the fees to get her car released and traveled down to the beach in search of a place to think away from it all. She was sitting on the hood of her yellow bug staring out at the ocean when a familiar voice sounded near to her. It was Henry, lugging around that damn book of his. His castle wasn't far off, and he must have noticed her from afar. She hadn't realized she'd gone out towards his special place until it was too late. The sad thing was she didn't feel much like company.

Henry approached her leaned against the grill of her car. "I thought things would be different by now," he commented at length. Emma raised a curious eyebrow at him. "What do you mean? Different how?" she asked. "I thought the final battle would have begun by now and you'd be on your way to breaking my mom's curse," he answered her.

Emma looked disbelievingly at him. "What are you talking about, kid? I'm not fighting any battles. I'm not breaking any curses," she denied. "Yes, you are, it's your destiny. You're gonna bring back the happy endings," Henry claimed, never knowing how childlike and innocent he truly sounded in that moment. Emma was cross with him because she didn't want to be in a position to crush all his dreams, yet here she was.

"Will you cut the book crap out?"

"You don't have to be a jerk, I can tell you like me," her son said with a knowing smile. "You're just pushing me away because I make you feel guilty. But don't be, you don't have to," he told her. "Don't what?" she asked, caught off guard. He was so perceptive for such a little kid. "Don't feel guilty. I know why you gave me up," he said to her and her breath hitched in her throat. "Why? What do you think?" she asked, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "You were trying to give me my best chance," he said. "How do you know that?" she shakily asked.

"It's the same reason Snow White gave _you_ away," he told Emma. "Listen to me, kid, I hate to burst your bubble but I am _not_ some character in a story book. I'm a real person, and I'm not perfect. I'm no savior. You were right about one thing though, I did want you to have your best chance. It's just not with me. Your mother's right, it's not right for me to be here," she said. "C'mon, let's get you back home," she said with determination and Henry stalled, his eyes horror stricken.

"You can't _leave!_ What about me?" Henry asked. "What about everybody? You have to break the curse. You don't know what it's like with her," Henry started to cry. "My life sucks!" Emma wanted more than anything to turn tail and run, but her feet were rooted to the spot as tears rolled down Henry's cheeks. "At least you have a mom who wants you, kid! I was left abandoned on the side of the highway. My parents didn't even take me to a hospital," she said.

"Your parents didn't leave you, that's just where you came through," Henry insisted. "What?" Emma asked, truly baffled. "The wardrobe!" he said excitedly. "When you came through the wardrobe, you showed up on the street. But your parents didn't leave you, they were trying to save you from the curse," Henry explained heatedly.

Emma gave a sad little chuckle. "Sure they were," Emma said. The look of disbelief on her face left Henry feeling low and down for the count. "C'mon, Henry," Emma said and gestured for him to get into her bug. "I'm not crazy," Henry mumbled under his breath as he got in. "I didn't say you were," Emma said, and they left it at that as they shared a quiet ride home.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

Regina was standing in her son's bedroom, peering out the window when her son and that woman pulled up in her vile yellow car. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and she frowned as they alighted from the car, and Henry gave Emma a huge hug. Regina spun on her high heel when she saw that, and stalked down the stairs to the front entrance to intercept them.

"Henry!" she called, opening the front door, and bidding him come closer faster. She needed him away from this damnable woman as soon as possible. Henry rushed past his mother into the house, ignoring her arms spread open for a hug of her own. Her face fell as she watched him bound up the stairs, and suddenly she remembered who was fueling her present fire of anger and disappointment. She turned back towards Emma Swan.

"He seems to have taken quite a shine to you," she said, smiling deceptively. Emma nervously tucked her thumbs into her belt loops, looking down at the ground. "But don't misunderstand and take this as invitation back into his life." Emma's eyes darted up to her dark, serious ones.

"You literally have no right. For ten years, I've changed every diaper, soothed every fever, and endured every tantrum while you've been off doing God knows what," she said. "You may have given birth to him, but he's _my_ son," the mayor declared. "Henry has enough issues, he doesn't need you confusing him. So I suggest you get in your car and you leave this town, or I will destroy you if it is the last thing I do."

There was a pregnant pause as the two women sized each other up. _This bitch has another thing coming if she thinks she can order me away._ "It's too bad," Emma said with a little chuckle, "I was actually thinking about leaving before. But there's no way in Hell I'm leaving now, Miss Mayor." Emma snidely said, "Since you just threatened me, now I need to stay and make sure Henry's okay."

"Henry's fine," Regina huffed, her feathers obviously ruffled. "Any problems he may have are being tended to," she said, purposefully being vague and Emma's eyebrows raised in concern. "What does that mean?" "It means I have him in therapy. Take my advice Ms. Swan, only one of us knows what's best for Henry."

"I'm starting to think you're right about that," Emma said skeptically, eyeing the mayor.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

It was late afternoon by the time Emma found herself in front of a door marked, "Dr. Archibald Hopper, Psychiatrist." She knocked on the door, and Henry's therapist answered looking considerably more respectable compared to his attire the night before. He wore a green sweater vest, pale yellow top, and khaki pants and his glasses made him look very insightful and intelligent. Emma found herself wanting to trust him, if he was the one who was supposed to be helping her kid.

"Hi," she said. "Are you Dr. Hopper? I'm Emma Swan," she smiled as she introduced herself. Archie shook her hand, "I know who you are, Ms. Swan," he said informally with a grin. "It'd be hard not to," he added mirthfully. "Please, call me Emma," Emma insisted. "Emma, then I am Archie to you," he gestured towards the couch in his office, opening the door wider for her to come in. "Please, what can I do for you today?" he politely asked.

"Well..." she started, darting hesitant eyes towards the ginger haired man. "I'm actually here to ask about Henry," she asked in a rush, the words tumbling nervously out of her mouth. The look Dr. Hopper gave her suggested he'd really rather not, and Emma felt her heart sink. "Ah, I see, Emma, I-" he started to make some excuse, but Emma hurried to cut him off.

"Well, look, just tell me one thing. This thing about the fairy tales. What causes his obsession? He thinks everyone in his life is a character from a story book. That's insane," she concluded with a sense of grief. She wanted to help her son in any way, and she needed Archie to help her understand him better.

"I hope you don't talk like that in front of him," the therapist said protectively. "The word 'crazy' can be very damaging." Emma immediately got the sense that this man was a good influence on her son, and may even have served him as a male figure in lack of one in his home life. "These stories are Henry's way of communicating. He uses this book to help deal with his problems," he explained. "It's his language." Emma admitted she thought he must be good for Henry, if he knew so much about his problem.

"Didn't he only get the book a month ago? Has he been seeing you longer than that?" Emma inquired. Archie peered uncertainly at his filing cabinet, probably mentally calculating how long. "Um, yes, he has," he hesitantly confessed. "So it's her then, isn't it?" Emma asked sharply. "His mother is a very complicated woman, and she has very specific ideas for the path that Henry's life should take."

Archie went to his filing cabinet and retrieved a large, beige folder. "Why don't you take a look at this," he said. Emma's eyes filled with hope, and she eagerly accepted the file from him. "This will tell you everything you're wanting to know," he said and Emma sighed. "Thank you."

As soon as Emma left his office, Archie walked straight over to his desk to place a phone call.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

Emma had just scarfed down a bologna sandwich for dinner, consumed with Henry's file. She read over it as crumbs fell on the page and paid them no heed, sitting on her bed crossed legged with the papers spread out before her. She was just turning a page about one of Henry's nightmares when she heard a knock at her door.

"Emma Swan?"

Outside the door, Sheriff Graham stood leaned against the door frame. "We've got to quit meeting like this," he drawled, and Emma put her hands on her hips. "You're telling me. What do you need? I'm a little busy," she said, darting a glance over her shoulder and waving nonchalantly behind her. Graham peered around her curiously, then looked down at her. "Well, you see, I'm afraid that's what I'm here about actually," he said, clearing his throat uncomfortably.

"Dr. Hopper said you'd been by to see him earlier," Graham told her. Emma looked at him questioningly, "Yeah, what of it?" "He said that you two got into a bit of row when you asked to see Henry's file, and when he wouldn't give it to you, you broke into his office and stole it." Emma started to laugh in wonder, and threw her hands up. _I can't ever win._ "You mean this file? The one he _gave_ me?" she asked, stepping aside to show him the bed, supposedly caught red handed.

She wasn't surprised when Graham slapped the hand cuffs on her. "Sorry, but he's telling a different story," the officer said . She appraised him knowingly, and asked him as he lead the way out of her room with the file in his hand, "You know I'm being set up, don't you?" Graham gave her a look like she was the crazy one. "And who would do something like that?"

"You know damn well it's that she-devil mayor of yours," Emma hissed as he helped her duck her head into the back seat of the cruiser instead of the front this time. "We'll see about that," he lightly commented. "Twice in one day, my lucky day," Emma sarcastically bit out from behind the wired screen and Graham laughed as he started up the cruiser to take Ms. Swan back to jail.


	12. Into the Fire

**Chapter 12**

 **Into the Fire**

After dinner, Regina broke the bad news to Henry about Emma being arrested. She claimed that Emma was a con artist who was only trying to learn more about him so that she could learn their weaknesses. Henry didn't believe his mother for a second, and when Regina said she'd be leaving for a short while, Henry pounced on his opportunity alone.

He rushed from his home and to the hospital he sometimes went to visit Ms. Blanchard after school. She was the only one who could help him. Mary Margaret was just finishing up at the hospital at the end of the day when she heard someone running down the hospital hallway. "Hey! No running," she called out, and when she peered around the corner, she saw Henry come skidding to a halt before her, out of breath.

"Ms. Blanchard!" he called, his big round eyes huge with fright. He reached up and grasped for his teacher's hands anxiously, staring up at her. "You gotta help me," he pleaded with her. "Like I helped you with my credit card, Henry?" she asked, eyes narrowing accusingly.

She had not heard the end of that one. Bright and early that morning at school, Mary Margaret was ambushed by none other than the mayor. The businesswoman called Mary Margaret out of class and pinned her with an angry glare, holding up her green american express. "Did you give this to my son so that he could find her?" Regina asked. "Find who?" Mary Margaret asked, genuinely confused.

Regina let out an irritated growl and thrust the clueless woman's card at her. "His birth mother is that Emma Swan, he found her online using that card," she explained.

Despite being personally attacked for something her son had done, Mary Margaret found herself feeling sympathy for the mayor and how she must feel threatened about this piece of news. She accepted her card back from Regina and slipped it into her jacket pocket. "I'm sorry, Regina, but I didn't know anything about it," she promised.

In front of her, Henry groaned. "I had to do it, Ms. Blanchard! I had to know who my real mom was," he guilelessly said, unperturbed that he'd committed a crime in order to find out. Mary Margaret shook her head, but could understand the child's reasoning. He obviously couldn't use one of his mother's credit cards, she would have found out all that much sooner.

Judging by the distressed look on her boy's face, Mary Margaret thought she could tell what had happened. "Okay, I understand, but you still shouldn't take things that don't belong to you," she chastised him.

Henry impatiently reached for his teacher's hands once more. "I won't, I won't, okay?!" he said. "Now can you please come with me?" Mary Margaret could sense the child's urgency. He dragged her down the hallway and out the hospital, explaining what had happened to Emma.

She honestly thought that Regina was doing this just to hurt the boy. Given what she knew about the newcomer, Emma wasn't a bad egg. She didn't seem like the type to steal. Over the month the blonde had been in town, she and Mary Margaret had formed a sort of friendship talking about the school marm's romantic interest in Dr. Whale. Mary Margaret was only too happy to help a friend in need.

When they arrived at the police station, Graham had scarcely finished booking Emma when Mary Margaret announced that she would pay the bail for both of them, having discovered Lily too was being held. Emma and Lily were in separate cells not speaking to each other. After Mary Margaret bailed them out, the two girls rode back in silence to the mayor's mansion so they could drop Henry off at home before his mom discovered he'd gone amiss.

"Here, kid," Emma said, holding her hand out the window once Henry got out of the car. She was holding his story book up for him to take back. He'd left it in her car earlier when she drove him home from the beach. He shook his head at her, declining to take it. "You keep it for awhile," he said. "Just be sure to protect it, Mom can never know about it. Especially the last couple pages," the boy warned. Lily peered curiously at the little kid, and Emma reluctantly took the volume of stories back and sat it beside her on the seat.

"Okay, got it, kid."

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

The next morning, Granny asked for their room keys back first thing. "I'm afraid it's against policy to rent to two known felons," Granny explained, twisting her hands together guiltily as she avoided the two girl's eyes. "Let me guess, the mayor's office called to remind you bright and early," Emma said with a tired sigh. "It turns out it's a city ordinance," Granny awkwardly tried to defend her action. "Don't worry, we'll be out by lunch time," Emma told the innkeeper. "Thank you. I'm sorry, girls," Granny said apologetically. "Don't worry, I get it," Emma remarked under her breath, and shut the door.

"So are you gonna tell me what happened yesterday?" Lily asked moodily. She was still royally pissed. "A shoddy frame job, that's what," Emma replied, and set to getting ready for the morning. Lily followed her into the bathroom where she started to brush her teeth. "Who tried to frame you? For what?" questioned Lily.

"It's that damn mayor," Emma curtly answered. Lily raised her eyebrow curiously, not having dealt with the mayor of the town much herself. She only saw her when she chose to patronize Granny's diner. Lily had been given an afternoon job there as a waitress. _If she still has it after missing yesterday, that is_ , Emma angrily thought.

"What did she do?" the brunette asked. This was the hard part. If Emma wasn't leaving Storybrooke, then she would have to tell Lily her new reason for staying.

"It's not about what she did," Emma softly said, and guided Lily back into the bedroom. "Here, sit, I have something to say," the blonde said and sat down beside her on her bed. "Okay, I never told you about this because I didn't think it mattered anymore... but I kind of have a son," Emma admitted.

"You WHAT?!" Lily exclaimed, jumping up off the bed. She stared incredulously down at her ex. "What do you mean you "kind of" have a kid?! Either you do or you don't," she said.

"I do. Or I had a kid, I mean," Emma said, wincing at Lily's outburst. "Back when I was eighteen," she explained. A sobering look of recognition flashed across Lily's face- it was during one of the gaps in time they'd been separated, a time they never spoke of. Lily was blindsided by the information.

"I was young. I had him in prison, and I decided to give him up. It was a closed adoption," Emma said, looking determinedly down at her knees. "I didn't know how to be a mom, I couldn't be one," she said.

She didn't want to see the look of realization dawn on her friend's face as she realized how Emma had abandoned a kid just like they'd been abandoned. Emma could never live down the shame if she had her whole life to make it up to him.

"He's here, in Storybrooke," Emma went on. "He found me. That kid from the ice cream shop, Henry," she elaborated. "Oh yeah, the kid that ran away, I remember him," Lily said cautiously, sinking back down onto the bed beside her again.

"I guess you guys found him then," she stated the obvious. Emma scoffed. "Yeah, you could say that! I was the one to find him, and that's when he told me who he was," she said.

Lily finally reached a hand out to place it over Emma's comfortingly. "Whatever you did in the past, I'm sure you thought it was for the best," Lily said with a deeper understanding of Emma's feelings than probably anyone else would ever relate to her.

Lily didn't know _what_ she would do if she ever found out she was pregnant. _I would probably freak. Maybe I would have gave him up, too._ Kids weren't really Lily's style. Emma had a point, neither of them knew what it was to be a mother. She couldn't rightly blame Emma for passing the buck.

She might be angry with Emma for keeping such a big secret, but she could at least understand why Emma felt the need to hide it. It was in the past, or had been, until now. Plus, Lily wasn't in any position to hold grudges. She recognized that she stood a lot more to gain if she was forgiving in light of this earth-shattering news.

Emma seemed to melt into her embrace when Lily accepted her news. She leaned heavily against the brunette, burying her nose in her long hair. As Lily hugged her back, Emma sighed, feeling momentarily comforted for something she would never truly forgive herself for. _But at least if Lily forgives me, it's a start._ "That's the thing, Lil, I don't think I made the right choice," Emma quietly said.

She caught Lily up on the drama with Regina and filled her in on the details of the frame job. They got dressed and were about to leave for brunch when there was a knock at their door. Lily answered it, and Regina's smile faltered on the other side of the door.

"Ah, Ms. Page, is it?" the mayor asked in greeting, sounding downright friendly, and Lily eyed her suspiciously. Regina wore a bright red dress with a scoop neck that hugged her figure and her lips matched. She was holding a large basket of red apples.

"If I might speak to Ms. Swan?" she asked, and Emma came to the door. "What do you want, Regina?" Emma growled. "It's going to take more than a hack frame job to get rid of me," she told the mayor.

The mayor managed to looked surprised. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean," she said with an infuriating calm and superficial smile on her face. "I've simply come to bury the hatchet, so to speak," she said, offering Emma the basket of apples.

"Did you know the honey crisp apple tree is one of the hardiest trees? I've had one of their apple trees for as long as I can remember, used to tend to the apple picking as a girl. I wanted to give you these as a good will gesture, and invite you over to my office later so we can discuss arrangements with Henry," she offered.

Emma noticed that Regina's offers still sounded an awfully like commands. But if Regina was willing to be adult and talk things out, Emma wouldn't be the one to turn her down for Henry's sake. She needed to figure this thing between them all out soon, so Emma agreed to meet her there later with Lily.

In the mean time, the two had the troubling problem to sort out of exactly _where_ they were going to live for the unforeseeable future. At Granny's diner, Emma combed the newspaper diligently and found no openings for real estate in the little town, which she found odd.

Lily went into the back to talk with Granny and ask for a second chance. The older woman agreed to let the brunette keep her job because she felt so badly about kicking the girls out of house and home. "Everyone makes mistakes sometimes," Granny graciously said, and put the girl to work.

"I'm going to go look for a place the old fashioned way, babe," Emma said as she approached Lily to let her know she was leaving. Lily was surprised when she dropped a quick kiss on her cheek.

"I'll see you later. I'll come back to pick you up?"

Lily smiled from ear to ear, and nodded.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

When Henry got out of school, Emma was waiting to pick him up.

After she left Lily, she had found herself thinking more and more about him on her search for houses. It was him she was staying for, and yet she hadn't had any luck yet. When her search proved unsuccessful, she stopped by the inn briefly to pack up their things and haul them out to the car.

While she was packing, she picked up a special item and stuffed it into her hip pocket so she could bring it with her when she saw Henry. She wanted to talk to him about something.

"Emma!" the boy cried, running towards her after class. Mary Margaret noticed who was coming to pick him up and smiled, heading towards the mother and son. "Hey, you two," she called. "I'm glad to see you're not rotting away in jail," the school marm joked.

"Tell me about it," the blonde chuckled. "Thanks again, you really didn't have to do that," Emma said. Mary Margaret smiled kindly, "I didn't have to, I wanted to." She looked down at Henry, then back at his mother. "I trust you," the school marm said.

"Wow, thanks," Emma said awkwardly, rubbing her arm uncomfortably suddenly. "I don't have the money to pay you back right away, but I'll give you what I have..." Emma started to offer, pulling her billfold out of her hip pocket.

Mary Margaret put her hand out haltingly. "That won't be necessary, Emma. You'll get it to me when you can," she offered in good faith in her new friend. Emma smiled, visibly relieved. "Thank you so much Mary Margaret, I don't know how we can thank you."

Henry pulled on his mother's hand suddenly to get her attention. "You could get her ice cream at the ice cream shoppe," he said persuasively, and Mary Margaret laughed. "That sounds nice, actually," the school teacher remarked.

"Ice cream it is then, it's the least I can do," Emma said, and Henry started leading the way excitedly to the ice cream shoppe. When they arrived, Emma ordered a strawberry frozen yogurt, Henry ordered a chocolate sundae, and Mary Margaret ordered vanilla ice cream with cookie dough. They sat down at a table together, and Henry dived in happily, ready to let the adults talk while he enjoyed his treat.

"Is it unusual around here for there not to be any openings anywhere?" Emma asked exasperatedly. Mary Margaret nodded, taking a lick of her ice cream. "That doesn't surprise me. It's a small place, no one ever moves away," Mary Margaret observed. "Why? You looking for a place? What happened to Granny's?" Mary Margaret asked. Emma darted a quick look at Henry and Mary Margaret nodded understandingly. _Regina strikes again_ , she presumed.

"You two could stay at my place until you find one, if you like," Mary Margaret offered. "After all, I have a spare room and I could use a room mate or two," she said, "As long as you guys don't mind sharing, of course."

Emma looked at the school teacher filled with disbelief. No one was this nice just because. She found herself thinking that Mary Margaret was an angel of mercy that she didn't deserve. "Oh no, we couldn't," Emma said modestly, turning her kind offer down politely out of pride.

They all finished their ice cream and got up to leave. "Well, let me know if you change your mind," Mary Margaret said as they exited the shop. Emma gave Henry a hug since he was just up the road. She was headed the opposite direction towards Granny's diner with Mary Margaret to pick up Lily. As they were drawing closer, suddenly Graham's police cruiser drew up beside them, lights and siren flashing.

"Really?" Emma asked, still a little miffed at him for arresting her when she was clearly framed. "What did I do now?" she asked. "Nothing," Graham replied easily, and alighted from his cruiser. "If you'll excuse me," Mary Margaret said, eyeing the pair as Graham approached Emma. He obviously had a thing for Emma, and what Emma felt for him Mary Margaret couldn't be so sure. She left to give them their privacy and headed in the direction of her own apartment across town.

"This was just the best way to get your attention, you felon," he teased with an easy grin. "What's up, Graham?" she bluntly asked, in no mood for any of his flirting. "I came to make a proposition to you," he said. "What _kind_ of proposition?" she asked, hands on her hips, expecting some intolerable remark from the officer.

"Well, I happen to know your friend there spent a pretty penny bailing you two out," Graham said, indicating the direction the school teacher went. "And I'll wager since your case went cold, you'll be looking for new work here soon," he said. "There's not much in way of bounty-hunting work around here, so I thought I'd offer you a position as my deputy down at the station," he offered.

Graham was willing to try anything to get closer to her. Although what he said was true about needing work, Emma knew better than to accept his offer knowing as she did how much he was going to flirt with her and test her patience. She decided she didn't need that and politely turned him down.

"I have room in the budget, so just let me know if you change your mind," Graham said, a little disappointed in her answer. He had been sure this would work. "Thanks, will do," she said dismissively as she left him behind, heading for the diner's entrance.

Lily was waiting for her. "Let's go," Emma said, and the two set out on foot across town. Emma twined her arm through Lily's and they walked side by side. When they arrived to Regina's office, they found a tastefully decorated black and white lobby with elegantly carved pieces of furniture. Regina had a male secretary behind the reception desk, a young college student intern.

"We have an appointment with Ms. Mills," Emma said condescendingly, leaning against the receptionist's desk. He eyed the blonde up and down with greedy eyes, before pressing a speed dial button on his phone and announcing their arrival to Ms. Mills. "Send them in," her reedy voice said over the speaker phone.

Emma and Lily entered Regina's office and admired the black and white forest collage on the walls. Regina was sitting behind her desk, hands tented, an enigmatic expression on her face. "Ah, Ms. Swan, Ms. Page," she said in greeting, nodding to each of them. "If you'll please take a seat," she offered, and the two women sank into the black chairs in front of Regina's desk, their backs to the door.

"I wanted to apologize to you, Ms. Swan," she said to the blonde. Emma looked at the mayor as if she'd sprouted another head. "What?" she asked, completely flabbergasted. "I know now that you're important to Henry, and I'm just going to have to face the fact that you want to be here," Regina said with resignation.

"We do," Lily said adamantly. "And that you're here to take my son away," Regina added matter-of-fact, leveling a shrewd look Emma's way. Emma felt like a deer trapped in headlights. "Now, let's make one thing clear, Regina. I have no intention of taking Henry away."

"Then _why_ are you two still here?" Regina asked, sounding supremely annoyed. Lily's eyes narrowed at the haughty bitch they all called mayor. She didn't appreciate the way she was talking to Emma. "Maybe it has something to do with you threatening her and trying to frame her," Lily said snidely and Regina's eyes narrowed at the brunette.

Emma sought to diffuse the situation. "Look, I know I'm not a real mother, but I can't help it. The kid got in my head, and now I can't leave without making sure he's alright. And the more you try and get me out of here, the more I want to stay, especially after seeing how troubled he is," the blonde admitted.

"You think he's troubled?" Regina asked. "Well, what do you think? You're the one who put him in therapy," Lily said, remembering what Emma had told her and feeling like she was stating the obvious. Something was wrong, this lady wasn't nearly as nasty as Emma had led her to believe. So far, she was manageable to the brunette.

"I only got to read a few pages of his file before you had me arrested," Emma said, ruefully eyeing the mayor. "But it was enough to show the kid's got problems, he's living in a fantasy world," Emma said. "It's insane," she sadly admitted the truth.

"You think I'm crazy?" they heard a small voice ask.

Emma's heart dropped out of her chest onto the floor. She turned in her seat to see Henry standing in the doorway. He turned and ran, and Emma was left to stare after him with stricken eyes. "How long was he there?" she anxiously asked.

"Long enough," the mayor said with a smug grin of satisfaction on her face. "You knew he would be here," Lily accused, pointing a finger at the mayor. "Did I know that every Thursday my son comes to my office at exactly 5:00pm so I can take him for dinner before his session? Of course, I'm his _mother_ ," she said triumphantly. Emma bolted from the room after him.

"You heinous bitch, you have no soul!" Lily said, turning to leave and follow Emma and Henry.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

Henry ran straight to Dr. Hopper's office, his safe haven for when he had hurt feelings. He was so depressed by what his mother truly thought of him, he could barely speak of it and didn't make for the best company for Archie.

He hadn't been there ten minutes when his mother burst through the door, breathing hard. She must have chased him all the way here. Lily hung back in the waiting room.

"Emma!" Archie exclaimed, coming to stop her at the door. "I'm so sorry," he rushed to apologize for his betrayal of her. He tried to explain, "The mayor made me-" Emma cut him off though, rushing past him. "Don't worry about it, I get it," she said, and came to sit beside Henry on the couch in Archie's office.

"I'm sorry, Henry," she pleaded and Henry turned away from her. "I don't wanna talk to you," he said sadly. "Emma, if Regina knows you're here-" Archie started to say, and Emma shot him a blood curdling look. "To hell with her," she spat.

Her expression softened, and she reached out to hold Henry's face in her hands. She stared into his sad, little injured eyes. "I am _so_ sorry, Henry. The only reason I decided to stay here was for you, and I never meant to hurt you," she told him.

"You think I'm crazy," he said, jerking out of her grasp. "No, Henry, I don't think you're crazy. I think the curse is crazy." She took a deep breath. "But that doesn't mean it isn't true. You have to admit it's a lot to ask someone to believe in, but there are a lot of crazy things in this world. Maybe it _is_ true."

"But you said-"

"What she needed to hear," Emma improvised. She needed to change Henry's mind in a hurry and make him see she _did_ care about him. "What I do know is that if this curse is real, the only way to break it is to make the evil queen think that we _don't_ believe," she claimed and she could have cried tears of relief at the look of understanding dawning on Henry's unsuspecting face as he believed in her lie. "That way, she's not onto us. Don't we want to throw her off our trail?"

"I knew you were here to help me," the little boy said. He launched himself into Emma's arms, and she held him tight. "That's right, kid, I am," she said, realizing for the first time the gravity of her decision. She was scared shitless, but she wasn't about to show him that.

She withdrew from Henry and reached into her hip pocket. This would surely convince the boy. "And you were right, Henry. These last few pages _are_ dangerous. I see why you ripped them out," she told him. He had ripped the pages out and folded them up at the back of the book.

Now, Emma unfolded them and walked over to Archie's stone fireplace. "The only way to make sure she never sees them is to get rid of them," she said with an air of finality, and she threw them into the fire.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

The next morning, Emma and Lily were outside the mayor's manor very early. It was not yet light out, and the street lights illuminated Emma's yellow car as she and Lily snuck out of it.

Emma was carrying a huge motorized chainsaw she had borrowed. In the mayor's front yard were several tall apple trees, and Emma marched towards one at random with purpose and determination.

She whirred the chainsaw's motor to life, and Lily cheered encouraging words as she sawed off a jagged portion of the tree near the bottom. The branch fell to the ground with a crash and apples scattered everywhere. Regina's tree was mangled. Upstairs, Lily noticed Henry standing at his bedroom window and she thought she could see a big grin on his face.

Regina came running out of the house in a white, silk robe. Her short hair was flyaway and she screamed at Emma, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"Don't you know apple pickin' when you see it?" Lily asked cockily, and Emma took a threatening few steps towards the mayor. The chainsaw was held down at her side, now off after her masterpiece work of art on the tree. "I'm not gonna let you turn Henry against me. If you come after me again, you best know I'm coming back for the rest of this tree," Emma threatened, "because, lady, you have no idea who _you're_ messing with."


	13. Operation Cobra

_A/N: Thanks for reading everyone. I appreciate all the reviews and feedback. If you're looking for a cool music video for Once Upon a Time, go youtube Wonderland Once Upon A Time. Any of them are good, it fits Emma and the series to a tee :)_

* * *

 **Chapter 13**

 **Operation Cobra**

A few days later, Emma and Lily finally decided to swallow their pride and pulled up in front of Mary Margaret's apartment complex. They'd been using Ruby's shower lately to freshen up and they were starting to miss stretching out in a bed at night. They didn't even mind if they had to share at this point.

The two women were starting to heal together. Emma and Lily snuggled at night to keep warm in the car. So far, they hadn't shared more than a few chaste kissses and some innocent hand holding. Lily was willing to go at whatever pace Emma needed and she didn't push her friend for more. She was just glad that Emma was finally ready to ask Mary Margaret about her extra bedroom. Lily had been ready to say yes the first night she learned the school teacher offered.

Mary Margaret wasn't home, so they sat in the car waiting on her. It was around 8:30 that night before Mary Margaret came walking home, her head hanging. She looked very pretty though in a pastel, purple colored dress that came just above her knees wearing cute, strappy white kitten high heels. She had pearl earrings in her ears and her blush was a little heavier than usual. She looked absolutely rosey, downright lovely, yet her face still wore a look of defeat.

"Hey, hot date tonight?" Emma cat called from their car. Mary Margaret startled, and raised her hand to her chest. "Goodness! You scared me!" she said, coming to stand abreast of the car. She peered curiously into it, noting all the girl's stuff piled into the back. "You might say that," she said, appearing a little deflated still. "You girls wanna come inside?" she invited them in after her.

From that moment on, Emma and Lily were welcome in Mary Margaret's home. They started paying rent and took the loft bedroom upstairs. There was a computer desk, a bedside table with an alarm clock, a large queen sized bed with prim white sheets that had tiny rosebuds printed on them, and a small half bath upstairs. One of the walls was a built in book case and a floor to ceiling square pink light illuminated the corner where a beat up pink recliner sat. Next to the recliner, there was a door to a small closet. On the book shelves, Mary Margaret had books of poetry and art and a few hundred magazines. There were a few DVDs and children's books scattered in among the variety. The girls made themselves at home, and then went back downstairs to visit with their gracious host.

She'd been compulsively tidying up while they were upstairs. Her lilac colored comforter was spread out smoothly without a wrinkle in sight. They'd even heard her run the vaccum cleaner briefly, and were amazed someone would go to so much trouble on their behalf.

When they descended the stairs, Mary Margaret was wiping down her kitchen counter vigorously. Emma approached her, and took the white cleaning rag from her hand. "By the looks of you, girl, you need to stop cleaning and have a drink," Emma said, smirking. "Where are the drinks in this place?" she asked.

Mary Margaret sighed and sagged against the counter tiredly. She gestured behind her to a cabinet, and Emma opened it to discover some Amaretto and a purple bag containing some Crown Royale. She looked in the white refrigderator with flowery shopping lists pinned to the front and found a two liter of Dr. Pepper. She mixed some drinks for the three of them and added ice. "Okay, now spill," the blonde said as they all sat down in the living room.

"Dr. Whale asked me out," she confided to the two girls. "You don't look that happy about it," Lily remarked, and Mary Margaret frowned. "No, I _was_ ," she protested, and Emma interrupted her, "You're telling me! You didn't have to hear how _attractive_ Dr. Whale was, how _smart_ ," Emma mocked her friend, saying the doctor's title breathily enough to convey the depth of the school teacher's longing.

The pixie haired woman colored, and averted her eyes with a bashful smile. "God, Emma! You make me sound like a lovesick school girl," she groaned. "Say you weren't," Emma dared her. "What's changed?" Lily asked. "Well, he was ogling Ruby the entire time," she complained.

"Did he at least pay?" Emma asked. Mary Margaret shook her head dismally. "Ooh! Some doctor, he sounds like an asshole," Lily laughed. "Not even worth feeling blue, I'll tell you. I had a girl once call out her ex's name when I made her O," Lily dished her own sad, vulgar details and Mary Margaret blushed as Emma rolled her eyes, knowing said girl had not been herself.

"Why's it always gotta be about sex with you?" she asked, exasperated, and Lily winked, "Don't blame me 'cause you girls don't know how to have a good time."

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

After school the next day, Henry went to visit Ms. Blanchard at the hospital where she volunteered. He was happy when he bumped into his mother Emma, who had chosen to accompany her roommate for the afternoon on her good samaritan work, as Emma liked to call it.

Henry followed Ms. Blanchard as she went from bed to bed, putting fresh flowers on the sick patient's bedsides and stopping to chat gently with some of the recovering ill. Henry helped out by collecting discarded food trays and dishes as he followed her pushing his cart.

Henry stopped by an old biddy's bed, her name was Enid. Enid was usually pretty cantankerous with the staff even though she pretty much lived at the hospital due to her cancer treatment. She really liked Henry, though, and always had some kind of sweet to share with him when he went to collect her tray.

She coughed and wheezed when he approached, and Henry smiled brightly at the old woman. Henry liked old people, they weren't nearly so cruel as his young peers. In his experience, most of the elderly were kind and he found them fascinating, so full of life history stories they were always willing to share with him.

Emma watched her son from across the room as she assisted a poor ailing woman readjust her pillows. She fluffed the pillows and helped the woman sit more comfortably propped against them and handed the woman a book.

Before she moved onto the next, she stopped to appreciate how sweet her little boy was for a moment. Here he was, volunteering with the sick and the elderly, and her heart swelled with pride. He was talking animately with an old woman with a head of whispy, curly blue hair.

Just at that moment, Emma watched a very pregnant teenager come out of the ladie's room. Her cheeks were streaked with tears and her face was blotchy red from crying. The pained look on the girl's face had Emma stepping towards her.

"Are you alright, miss?" she asked cautiously, approaching the young blonde woman at the water fountain she'd paused at to compose herself and get a drink. The girl looked frightfully over her shoulder, startled at the stranger behind her and embarrassed to be caught in such a state. She sniffed loudly and dashed her hand across her eyes. "Yes, I'm fine," she tried to reassure the stranger, but her voice shook as her lower lip trembled.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay? Can I get you-" Emma started to offer her assistance, but the blonde hastily shook her head. "No, thank you," the girl said brusquely and rushed past Emma as fast as her pregnant waddle would allow.

She rushed away with her head held down and Emma stared after her. Something about the sad, scared look in her eyes when she turned around made Emma's heart wring. She approached Mary Margaret, and pulled on her sleeve to get her attention quickly.

"Who is that girl?" Emma asked, indicating the blonde before she slipped out the exit. Mary Margaret didn't get a good look at her. "You know, if I'm not mistaken, she and Ruby went to school together, or they're friends somehow," Mary Margaret answered.

"I'm not that familiar with her, but it's hard not to hear things when you live in a town this small," she said. She looked a little scandalized when she leaned in closer to Emma to dish out some gossip. "Poor girl has no one," Mary Margaret said. "Her boyfriend hasn't been around since he landed her in the mess she's in," she shared with Emma.

Emma felt a burning desire to chase the teen down then, and squashed the urge because she knew it would make her look crazy. She, a stranger, running after some girl she didn't know to give her unsolicited advice. She wanted to run after her because the scared and alone pregnant blonde girl reminded her too much of herself at that age.

Henry entered the room with his teacher and mother. They were in a secluded, partioned off area by a glass observational wall. A youthful looking man lay prone on the bed, heart moniter beeping steadily at his beside. Mary Margaret had been rolling him in bed, repositioning him so that the comatose patient didn't develop bedsores.

It looked unnatural to Henry, how the unknown man's body limply responded to his teacher's handling. He remained asleep, and Henry noticed as Mary Margaret rolled the patient towards him and his face was upturned a long, horizontal scar on his chin. His keen eyes sparked at the sight, but neither of the women in the room noticed, busy as they were.

"Is Mr. Doe ever gonna wake up?" Henry asked. Emma was brought out of her reverie by the child's question, realizing for the first time he had wandered into the room. Her eyes crinkled at the corners as she observed the man on the bed with a grim understanding.

"We don't know Henry, he may never wake up. All we can do is take good care of him and hope for the best," Mary Margaret said, and she looked fondly down at the comatose patient. Despite his condition, he was really rather good looking.

Mary Margaret had been caring for the comatose man for as long as she could remember. He was a part of her usual routine at the hospital after work. Sometimes, she found herself wondering what he would be like if he ever woke up, and she used to imagine things about him from time to time. That was before she started noticing the handsome, _conscious_ Dr. Whale, who flirted with her and made her stomach do flip flops when he winked at her.

"Come now, Henry, you're not supposed to be in here," she chided him, and put her hand on Henry's shoulder to lead him from the room. Emma followed behind the pair, and excused herself, suddenly feeling emotionally exhausted.

Henry invited himself along with her when she parted ways with Mary Margaret. Mary Margaret had more work to do, but Emma just had to get out of that hospital. Henry surprised her when they left when he slipped his small hand into hers. She smiled down at him and squeezed his hand back. "How much time we got, kid?" she asked, being mindful of Regina's schedule.

That damnable mayor would just die a million tiny deaths if she knew that Henry was using every moment he could spare breaking all her rules. In his life before Emma, Henry would have moped around the house, bored and alone, nothing to occupy his troubled mind. Now, he had Emma and his story book, and he was eager to make up for lost time.

"She gets off at five," he said. He asked Emma to take them to his castle, and she obliged him with her spirits soaring the farther they got from the hospital. Emma let herself forget about the pregnant girl. When they got out of the car, Henry rushed with his story book to sit on one of the play things. He beckoned Emma to come and sit with him, and she smiled as she bade his request.

"I know who Mr. Doe is," Henry confided in her in a low whisper. Emma looked around, knowing full well they were completely alone for miles. "Honey, his name's not Mr. Doe. It stands for John Doe, and that's what they call someone when they don't know who that person really is," she explained. Henry shrugged impatiently, "Okay, but do _you_ know who he is?"

"No, why would I? I never met him before today," Emma said, perplexed. She frowned down at Henry, and he scowled at her. "Don't look at me like that," the boy beseeched her, and he started flipping through the pages and illustrations in the story book. He finally found the page he was looking for; it was the story of Snow White and Prince Charming.

He showed it to Emma and pointed at the man on the page that had just been hit with a rock by the bandit who robbed him. "Don't you see?" the kid asked.

"See _what?_ " Emma asked, looking down cluelessly at the page. The man on the page had blue eyes and fair skin. The cut on his chin stood out where a jagged scar would surely form. "That man has the same scar as John Doe. Mr. Doe is Prince Charming," Henry said proudly, identifying another character from his fairy tale world. Emma suddenly understood, and her eyes clouded over with concern, especially at his next words. "He's your dad," he claimed. _How absurd!_

"Don't you see what this means? The curse is keeping them apart by keeping him in a coma. Now, they're stuck without each other, a fate worse than death. We have to tell Ms. Blanchard we found her Prince Charming."

Emma internally sighed, distressed that she had to entertain such fanciful ideas. She had never anticipated this is what having a kid would be like, that your patience would be tested constantly. Emma did not like encouraging him in delving further into his head, and was hoping one day he would come around and feel happier, not need the fantasy world, now that she was around. _Am I hoping for too much?_

"Okay, so that means you think Mary Margaret is his soul mate Snow White," Emma said, trying to follow along. "And if what you say is true, then that means that Mary Margaret is my mom," she said increduously, and Henry didn't miss the doubtful tone of her voice.

"I know it's a lot to ask anyone to believe in," he said, echoing her. "If the hero believed everything right from the beginning, it wouldn't be a very good story. But we have to try, Emma," he implored his mother. "We know who they are, they should, too," he persevered.

"Alright," Emma said, surprising him when she relented. "Okay?!" he asked, excited. "Yeah, let's do this," Emma said, choosing to win the long game with her kid. If he needed this fantasy for now, and this was his way of connecting with her, then she was willing to play ball. "How do you suppose we do this?" she asked. "Okay, the first step is identification; I call it Operation Cobra," Henry proudly revealed to her.

She supressed a foolish grin by biting her lip. "That has nothing to do with fairy tales, kid," she protested. "That's the point, it's a code word to throw the queen off our trail," he patiently explained. "So if everyone here is a story book character that doesn't remember who they really are, how do you expect us to make Prince Charming realize who _he_ really is?" she asked curiously. "By reminding him," Henry said after some thought. "And how exactly will we do that?"

"We have to ask Ms. Blanchard to read to him. Maybe hearing their story will make him remember and wake up," Henry suggested, nearly bouncing up and down in excitement. If Emma didn't know any better, he looked like he was hopped up on sugary kid treats and adrenaline.

"Okay, but we do this _my_ way," Emma declared, leaning in conspirtionally with the young boy. "You let me ask Mary Margaret, and we'll get her to meet us for breakfast tomorrow and give us a special report."

"Alright," Henry agreed.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

After Emma dropped Henry off, she headed back towards Mary Margaret's place. Lily was home, sitting on the couch painting her nails. Mary Margaret was in the kitchen making dinner for them all, and it smelled great. It felt great to come home to her two friends.

As they ate dinner, Emma filled them in on her plan for Henry. "If you agree to do this, maybe this will show him that this isn't a fairy tale world, people don't just wake up out of the blue," Emma stated to the pair. Mary Margaret chewed thoughtfully and considered her offer. She loved Henry in her own way, being so close to him as his favorite teacher, so it was in her nature to try and help him.

"Okay, I'll do it," the school teacher said. "What if he does wake up?" Lily asked hypothetically. Emma scoffed as Mary Margaret got up after they finished eating to pick up everyone's plates. "As if, don't tell me you actually believe in pixie dust and fairy tales, too," Emma exasperatedly said. Lily frowned briefly, then gave an airy laugh. "I never rule out anything," she said.

Mary Margaret headed to the kitchen with the dishes and Emma went after her with a protest. "Nu uh," Emma chided her friend, and came into the kitchen to bully her out of the way. "We'll do the dishes, you have to get ready for your date," Emma playfully joked.

Mary Margaret rolled her eyes, and went to gather her jacket and the book Henry loaned them. She was off to the hospital.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

It was dark out, and Mary Margaret was shyly perched on the side of John Doe's bed inside the hospital. The curtains were still partially drawn from the daytime, and the fluorescent lights in the hospital room glared against the dark window, obscuring Mary Margaret's view outside.

She concentrated on the man beside her, and cleared her throat nervously. She didn't know why she should be so nervous, he wasn't even conscious. Could it be that she secretly hoped that Henry was right, and this gorgeous man was her soul mate? She day dreamed about what it would be like for him to wake up suddenly and take her into his arms.

Blushing and shaking her head to clear it, Mary Margaret opened the book on her lap. "Humor me, I'm doing this for a friend of mine," she plaintively said. She launched into the story of Snow White and Prince Charming and their unexpected first meeting and how the two fell in love.

"And it was there, under the shadow of the troll bridge, that their love for each other was born," she finished the tale wistfully, and then nearly died of fright the next second when John Doe's hand suddenly reached out and grasped her wrist.

She jumped up in fear, and looked down at the man. He was still asleep. _But he moved!_ Mary Margaret rushed from the room to find Dr. Whale. Ass that he was, Dr. Whale treated her like some stupid intern when she brought him babbling back to the comatose patient.

Dr. Whale blinked, the same sight as always greeting him. "What am I supposed to be seeing here?" Dr. Whale asked, his tone bored. Mary Margaret narrowed her eyes at him. "Look, I was reading to him, and he just grabbed my hand," she insisted.

"Maybe you fell asleep and were dreaming, or thought you saw something you really didn't," the doctor suggested nastily, calling her a liar. Mary Margaret turned away from him in disgust. How had she ever liked him? She gathered up Henry's book and left Dr. Whale in a huff.

Dr. Whale waited for the volunteer to leave, then placed a phone call. "You told me to call if anything changed with our John Doe patient," he said into the phone. "There's been a development. One of the volunteers says he grabbed her, and his readings show he did register brain activity..."

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

In the middle of the night, John Doe awoke from his coma. No one was around. He was disoriented. His feet were on auto pilot, and he jerked his IV's out and the breathing apparatus off his face. His limbs were weak and sore from misuse, and he stumbled as he headed for the nearest exit.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

The next morning, the three women rose together and went to pick up Henry at the Mayor's Manor. They rode in Emma's bug back to the diner, and Henry was bursting with questions. He waited long enough for the morning waitress to deliver their orders before he exploded.

"So what happened?!" he asked Ms. Blanchard. The school teacher darted a look towards Emma, since Emma and Lily had been asleep when she returned the night previous. Neither of them had heard the news yet, and Mary Magaret shared a piercing look with Emma. "He woke up," she said, and Henry gasped. "Well, not all the way, but he grabbed my hand," she said. "No way..." Emma's mouth hung open.

"Don't you see?!" Henry gushed, excited. Emma was stunned at the news and upset that her plan backfired. Now Henry was more sure than ever, and it put Emma in a pickle. "What did the doctor say?" Lily asked. "That I was imagining it, but I know what I saw!" Mary Margaret defended herself.

"He's remembering, I knew it!" Henry exclaimed. "You have to go back and read to him again," Henry pushed. Mary Margaret had a bright excited gleam in her eyes, and Lily and Emma knew it would be pointless to try and stop her. "Okay, let's go," Mary Margaret said, and they started off towards the hospital once they finished their meal.

When they arrived, they discovered that John Doe had gone missing in the night. "Where could he go?" Mary Margaret asked, worried about him already. Henry could see the concern in his teacher's face and felt compelled even more to make sure the couple wound up together. They just had to have their happy ending, and he was determined to be the one to help them.

"How long has he been gone?" Emma asked, her bail bonds person persona taking over. She was used to producing results, and if one thing was certain, she was good at finding people.

"We just finished watching the surveillance from last night, and he walked out that east exit about four hours ago," Sheriff Graham informed them. "Where does it lead?" Emma asked, and the janitor known as Leroy answered her, "The woods."

They started a search party, something that Emma was learning was common in this town, and went looking for the dazed and confused patient. They were right, how far could he go? It started to rain heavily on their search and the sky turned dark and stormy, lightning striking overhead.

It turned out, the answer wasn't far. They were part of a crew that was dragging the river. It was at a shallow bend in the river, below the toll bridge, that they first spotted John Doe. Emma gasped in surprise when lightning lit up the sky and thunder cracked loud as a whip, and they saw a body laying face down in the shallow water.

Mary Margaret automatically rushed to the aid of the body on the ground. She turned him onto his back and performed CPR, giving him the kiss of life. "Come back!" she commanded him, administering frantic pumps to his chest. "Come back to me!" John Doe suddenly gasped and coughed up a large amount of water. He weakly rolled over to wretch more, but at least he was alive.

She knelt on the ground and cradled his head in her lap, looking at him with relief in her big, watery blue eyes. "Don't worry, we've got you," his savior assured him. The rain was falling all around them, but he was sheltered from it as her face hovered over his and he groggily thought how beautiful she was, before he passed out.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

When they returned with David to the hospital, a very hostile mayor was waiting there for them. "Henry, come here," she commanded and the boy hung his head as he went towards her. "You're lucky you found him so soon," the mayor said, referring to the patient, after her son was safely tucked to her side with her arm around him.

"Even luckier still, I found his wife," Regina said deviously, stepping back to reveal an anxious, generously freckled blonde woman that came forth. Her eyes were rimmed with red from crying and she looked towards the hospital room they'd hauled her husband into.

"Wait a minute, who?" Mary Margaret asked incredulously. She looked at the blonde before her, a scowl starting to form on her usually serene face. "I'm David's wife, Katherine Nolan," the woman said, walking up to them. She shook Mary Margaret's hand gratefully. "I heard you were the ones who found my husband, thank you so much," she said to them.

"You didn't know he was in a coma?" Mary Margaret asked doubtfully. Katherine sighed, and lowered her eyes guiltily. "When David left, we weren't doing so good. I realize now that I was the one being difficult, moody, but back then I told him if he didn't like it, he could leave... so he did," she said sadly.

Her hands came up to nervously play with her long blonde hair, and they noticed a gold wedding band on her finger. "All this time, I thought he left town. Now I know why he never called me," she said, her eyes filling with tears.

"Now I get to do what I always wanted to, and apologize, and we can start over." She said, turning to look at her husband through the glass partition. "Now we get a second chance," Katherine said, love in her in her eyes and all over her face. "That's wonderful," Mary Margaret said, but her own face looked crushed.

"Regina is the one who found me, I can't thank her enough." They all looked back at Regina, and her head lifted haughtily just a little. "It was my pleasure," she said. "Henry, let's go," she commanded. The boy got up from his seat to follow her and was half way to the elevator behind his mother when he stopped. "I forgot my back pack," he said, and went back towards the chairs the women were occupying.

He grabbed his back pack and looking pleadingly up at his teacher. "Don't believe them," he whispered. "He was going to the toll bridge because he was looking for you." Mary Margaret protested,"Henry, he was going there because it was the last thing I read to him."

"No, he was looking for you. Don't let them fool you, you belong together," the young boy said. Mary Margaret looked sadly at him, and Regina called sharply for him, "Henry!" Henry trotted after his mother, and Emma suddenly got up to follow them and speak her mind.

"Miss Mayor," she called, her pet name of sorts for the woman she so much abhorred. Regina muttered something to Henry, and he went on towards the elevator while she turned around. "Yes, Ms. Swan?" she inquired.

"What happened back there, Mrs. Nolan's story..." Emma raised an eyebrow suspiciously, her hands jauntily held on her hips. "Her story all sounds like a load of crap to me," she bluntly said. "Why, Ms. Swan, and here I thought you would be happy. True love won out," Regina said, a smirk on her dark lips. "Be that as it may, why would Mrs. Nolan lie?"

"How did you even find her? Why are you even here in the first place, Miss Mayor?" Emma asked. Regina rolled her eyes, clearly vexed. "I was his emergency contact," she said. "I found him on the side of the road a few years ago and brought him here," she elaborated. "So you were his emergency contact for all these years and you _just_ found this woman?"

"Ms. Swan, the joy of this special occasion has put me in quite the forgiving mood so I'll ignore your rudeness." She readjusted her skirt, smoothing imaginary wrinkles from it and continued. "While the Sheriff was playing back those tapes, I happened to find some earlier footage. He'd been calling out for a Katherine, and it wasn't hard to put the pieces together from there," she claimed.

"Still, all these years, and she never put out any fliers looking for him? Never reported him?" Emma asked suspiciously. Regina sighed impatiently. "Ms. Swan, you heard what she said. She had reason to believe he'd left town, and if he said that's what he was going to do, how was she supposed to know any different?"

Emma let off, and let Regina leave with a troubled mind. Her super power was never wrong.


	14. Mother May I

_**A/N:**_ _Rating went up to M for this chapter ;) Enjoy!_

* * *

 **Chapter 14**

 **Mother May I**

The next day, yet again, Lily woke up to an empty apartment. She frowned as she went about her routine, taking a shower and eating a bowl of cereal alone in the kitchenette.

She woke up on the wrong side of the bed, disgruntled this afternoon. Lily was naturally a night owl and was never a fan of the early morning hours. As a result, she seemed to always wake just in time before her shift around eleven to shower and eat before she had to head out the door. No one was ever there at the apartment when she left.

Today was different though, because she had the day off, and she was a little perturbed that Emma wasn't around to spend it with her. More and more, Emma was off doing something with either Mary Margaret or her son Henry. It was cramping Lily's style. She wasn't used to having to share her Emma time, and given that Emma had only just started getting friendly with her again, she was jealous of the others eating up her time.

Lily waited around for an hour or two, hoping one of her room mates might show up to cure her boredom. When none did, she found herself wandering, and ended up at the park sitting at a concrete chess set table.

She had recently resolved to stay away from Granny's on her days off. She'd been doing that constantly when Emma was ignoring her. Craving a little attention, she'd been carrying on a secret, harmless flirtation with Ruby the waitress for weeks.

She sought to separate herself now that Emma was coming back around. Lily was only half paying attention to her surroundings, when suddenly a shadow fell over her chess board and she looked up to see the infamous Mr. Gold darkening her board. "Care to play?" he asked, gesturing towards the board.

Lily sized him up strategically. "Oh, why not," she replied whimsically, and motioned for him to take a seat across from her. "Care to make a friendly wager before we start?" he asked. Lily raised her eyebrow curiously at him. "What kind of wager? I'm not made of money you know," she chided him and Mr. Gold chuckled. She found the gruff sound of his voice pleasing to the ear.

"A simple one, dearie," he said. "I propose that if I win, you'll owe me a little favor," he predicted. "Not a sexual one," Lily asked to clarify. Mr. Gold rolled his eyes at her. "I'm a little wounded that you would think me so petty," he remarked to her, noting the subtle insult of her barb. "But no, not sexual, Ms. Page," he said with an air of mystery.

"Well, what do I get if I win?"

Mr. Gold considered her for a moment. He looked her up and down, taking in her dark, wild brunette hair that hung half way down her breasts. She was an attractive young woman with pleasing curves in all the right places. Yet she didn't show them off, he had never seen her in anything other than simple t-shirts and jeans. He'd had some time to scope out the new arrivals in town.

She had the look of someone wild in her eye, someone who'd never been held accountable to anyone in her life. He could tell by the look in her eyes she was someone who'd been left alone in her life at some point. Orphans had a way of recognizing each other.

"You're the type that's looking for something," Mr. Gold said knowingly, and he had Lily's full and undivided attention with those words. "You've been to my pawn shop, yes?" he inquired of the pretty brunette. She nodded breathlessly.

"Perhaps there is something in my shop that might be of great use to you. If you agree to our wager and out wit me at this game, then I will give you any item you desire in my shop," he promised her.

"Do we have a deal?"

Lily struck the deal.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

Emma was meanwhile at Granny's diner when Regina made her way towards her. Henry was at school already. Emma knew, because she had woken early to walk him there from the diner. "I can't seem to keep you away from my son, so I'll just have to keep my son away from you," the business woman said as she approached. She took a seat across from Emma. "Although God knows it's probably a moot point, seeing as it's not likely you're going to remain here for any length of time, now, is it, Ms. Swan?" Regina skeptically asked.

"What are you playing at? What did I tell you about threatening me, Regina?" Emma asked, growing hot below the collar. "Calm down, Ms. Swan, I meant nothing of the kind," the mayor said good naturedly, switching up her tactics. "It's just you are far more stupid than I thought if you thought I wouldn't dig up everything I can on you, the birth mother of my son," Regina said bitterly.

"As it is, I found out that you live a transient life, Ms. Swan. The longest you ever stayed anywhere was two years. Whatever did you find so intriguing in Tallahasee, Ms. Swan?" Regina arched an eyebrow.

"I'm not going anywhere Regina," Emma growled. "I know you think that now," the mayor said. "But just keep this in mind as you go through your gypsy life Emma, consider who all is going to get hurt when you leave, and end the connection now. Get out early, before you hurt him so much he can't come back from it," the mayor nastily urged the blonde.

She was poking at all Emma's vulnerable points. Everything she said was true. Emma always ran from her problems. She never stuck around long once the shit hit the fan. But when she looked at the devious glint in Regina's dark eyes, she couldn't help but swallow a lump in her throat courageously. _If I don't stay to protect Henry, who will?_ "I'm not going to hurt him," Emma quietly said, not at all sure of herself.

"Alright, Ms. Swan, so you say," Regina said, smirking as she rose, having planted the seed of doubt in the woman. "Have a good rest of the day," she bid, sashaying past the blonde and out the exit. Emma wasn't paying attention, and when she turned back around, she accidentally knocked her coffee over and all over her shirt.

Ruby saw her accident, and dragged the woman in back with her. "Here, use our washer real quick," she offered, and went to grab Emma an extra t-shirt. After Emma pulled her shirt off, she gasped softly when she noticed another person in the room.

It was the pregnant blonde from the other day. "Oh, I'm sorry, miss!" she exclaimed, hurrying to cover her eyes. She dropped her load of laundry in her haste, and Emma chuckled at the clumsy blonde. "Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing you haven't seen before," Emma joked, and went to assist the blonde with her load.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to barge in on you," she muttered. As Emma was gathering up her clothes, she stood up and eyed the young girl. "Didn't I see you the other day?" she asked inquisitively. "Umm, yeah," the girl said, and smiled awkwardly. "Sorry, I was upset the other day. I'm Ashley," she introduced herself.

Just then, Ruby bounded back into the room with a teeny top for Emma to borrow. Emma secretly rolled her eyes as she slipped it on, it reminded her of something a Hooters girl would wear. Ashley had loaded her clothes in the wash, and gasped in dismay when she got to the drier.

"Oh! The sheets are pink!" she cried, gathering the discolored sheets in balled fists, trying not to cry. Emma remembered the mood swings of pregnancy, and smiled sympathetically at the blonde. "Have you tried bleach?"

"Oh, this is just like me, always making mistakes," she groaned. Her hand came to rest on her swollen belly. "I was upset the other day because I've been having contractions, and the doctor confirmed that I could be having the baby any time now," she confessed. "Aren't you happy to have a baby and get it over with?" Emma asked.

"I guess I would be, only no one thinks I can do this," the blonde girl said with a tremble in her voice. Ruby was looking at Emma like she was a nasty villian, making Ashley talk about all this. She went to comfort her friend, and gave Ashley a big hug. She soothed her hair, looking over her shoulder contemptuously at Emma.

"Well screw them," Emma said, surprising the both of them. Ashley looked tearfully back at Emma. "Whatever you're thinking of doing or giving up, it's up to you. You're the one that's gonna have to live with your choice, so you have to do what's right for you," the woman said. "Who cares if they don't think you can do it, all you have to do is stand up for yourself and punch back and say, 'No, this is who I am, and I _can_ do it'."

"I wish it was as simple as that..."

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

During her game with Mr. Gold, Lily proved to be quite adept at slight of hand. She tricked the wealthy man into a check mate, and he looked with shock at his defeat. It was with a sour, queasy look on his face that he led her into his shop that afternoon.

When they arrived to Gold's shop, Lily took a painstaking look around the establishment and was displeased by what she found. "I want to see what's in back," she told the proprietor, and Mr. Gold bristled at her request but reluctantly led her through the back to his private office. The gall of this woman he could not abide!

Once they entered his back office, Lily was much more intrigued by what she found. She combed the office, her search more meticulous than those before her. In the pawn broker's experience, people like her were greedy and grabbed the first thing that looked of value so he was surprised when she took so long going over his possessions. With each item she passed over, he held his breath, angry that she had tricked him and won the game in the first place.

She looked over a glass hutch in his office, and eventually settled on the darkly colored, wooden wand being displayed over a blue piece of velvet cloth, held aloft on a black rack. "This," she said, "I want this." Mr. Gold narrowed his eyes at her choice, thoroughly displeased. As the Dark One, he had had to go through much to obtain that powerful wand. He would not let it go so easily.

He smiled deceptively, and walked around closer towards the brunette. "This old thing?" he asked, trying to undervalue it. "What would a smart young lady like you want with a useless, old child's play thing?" he asked.

"It's useless, is it?" she asked, fingering it fondly. He wanted to yank the thing out of her hand when she plucked it from its stand and held it to her breast protectively. "Then you won't mind if I take it off your hands," she said, tucking it inside her shirt for safe keeping.

Gold advanced on her then, but she was two steps ahead of him with his lame leg. She ran from the back room and through the shop, him trailing her until he came to the entrance of his store, panting with the effort. "Damn you!" she heard him cry, and she ran from the thievery with a successful grin on her face.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

When her room mates returned that evening, Lily was waiting for them. She had a couple pizza boxes waiting on the counter, along with a few bottles of two liter sodas. "Surprise, I cooked for you guys," she joked as her room mates entered. They chuckled at her warm welcome home.

The sun was just setting, and the girls were famished. Lily went to get them paper plates and food, then made an excuse to go upstairs. She went into the bathroom to check on her secret item she'd stowed away there.

She touched the wand lovingly, running her hand down the finely crafted wood. Useless as he said it was, she knew better than to keep it out in the open or on her person. After all, she had stolen it. Mr. Gold was bound to come after it.

When she came back down stairs, Lily stopped in her tracks. Mr. Gold was standing at their open door, Emma standing at the door. His eyes flickered briefly up to Lily, but he ignored her and introduced himself to Emma. "I'm Mr. Gold, I believe we met when you first arrived here," he told her. Lily noticed he had a cut on his temple that had not been there before.

"Yes, I remember you," the blonde answered. "What can we do to help you, Mr. Gold?" Emma asked politely, and opened the door wider to allow him passage.

Lily eyed him warily, still standing at the foot of the stairs as he made his way past her. He seemed to be surveying the surroundings, and Ms. Blanchard awkwardly excused herself to take a shower. She wasn't sure what Mr. Gold wanted, but frankly, he made her nervous.

"I've been told that you're good at finding people, Ms. Swan," he said. "I wondered if you could help me, please. A very important item of mine was stolen this evening from my shop," he said, his eyes flitting towards Lily.

She froze in shock, never dreaming she'd be caught this way. But then again, she did win it fair and square. She almost opened her mouth to defend herself and say so, when he continued. "A Ms. Ashley Boyd has stolen something from me. She attacked me," he said, gesturing to his temple.

"Very unlike her, she kept saying it was her choice, she had to make the right one. No doubt because she plans to get away from this town with her illegitimate child," Mr. Gold said disdainfully. "I simply can't allow her to skip town with what she stole from me," he said. "I need you to help me find her."

"What did she steal?" Emma asked.

"One of the advantages of you not being the authorities is discretion," Mr. Gold answered mysteriously. "Suffice it to say, I will pay handsomely to get it back," Mr. Gold divulged. _As if I'm supposed to be impressed?_ Emma wanted to ask. _As if money could buy me._

As it was, finding Ashley aligned with her own interests. If Mr. Gold got the authorities involved, Ashley would be in big trouble. "I'll help you," she agreed.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

Emma and Lily went straight to Granny's Bed and Breakfast to visit Ruby. They figured the pregnant teen would have told her friend where she was going, but Ruby disappointed them when they arrived. "No, I haven't seen her," Ruby said, shaking her head. "Maybe you should try her ex," the waitress suggested helpfully. "He lives at his dad's."

They got the address from Ruby and were on their way. They pulled up to a large, two-story house with stately columns supporting the front porch. There were perfectly tended hedges below the brightly lit windows, and small wire fencing lining the sidewalk as you walked up the front drive.

They knocked on the front door, and a teenager came to answer. "Hi," he said. "Are you Sean Miller?" Emma asked. "Um, yeah, who are you two? What are you doing here?" he asked curiously.

"We're here to help Ashley, Sean. Has she been here?" Sean looked alarmed, his eyes widening as he looked behind him into the house. He stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind him.

"What's going on with Ashley? I haven't seen her in months," he confessed, worried about the girl. "Her girlfriend Ruby pointed us your way, so if she's not here, do you know where she might be headed? It's important that we find her," Lily said. She didn't personally see why Emma was going out of her way to help a stranger like this, but she was willing to help any way she could.

"What's happened to her?" he asked anxiously. "She's got herself into some trouble, and we're trying to find her before it gets worse," Emma explained. "She was trying to leave town with the baby," Lily said. Sean's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "What? She was supposed to be giving the baby up," he said despondently. "What? To who?"

"That is none of you girl's business," they heard, and Sean's father was standing at the door. "My son Sean has nothing to do with that little tramp anymore," his father nastily said. "It's doubtful that baby is even his," he commented and the women could both see Sean's eyes narrow in anger and his hands ball into fists at his sides.

"Hush," Lily said, seeing the upset look on the younger man's face. "She'll soon be wanted by the law if we don't find her," she said. "Gold is looking for her," Lily said.

"I imagine he would be! He's the one done bought the girl's baby!" the father said. "She sold the baby?" Emma asked, truly baffled. "Don't look like that, she's getting a handsome price. Girl can't do it on her own anyway, what is she thinking?" the nasty man said. He slapped his hand down hard on his son's shoulder. "Come inside, Sean, and leave these girls to their criminal," he said, booming with laughter.

Sean shrugged his father's hand off his shoulder. "No, dad, I'm going to help look for her," he gritted out between clenched teeth. His father looked shocked that he would disobey him. "Fine, then, go after your little whore," he shouted.

"With pleasure," Sean said with determination as he marched down the sidewalk, never looking back once. He got into Emma's yellow bug with the ladies and left.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

The unlikely trio ended up riding down the dark stretch of road that led in and out of Storybrooke. They were all surprised when they noticed a car sitting near the edge of town abandoned, the front door opened and the tale lights shining.

Emma stopped the car, and Sean jumped out, having recognized the car as Ruby's red mustang. "We should have know, she wasn't helping us, she was helping Ashley get a head start," Emma said as she alighted from the car, and they followed Sean over past the car.

In the bushes, Ashley lay crying on the ground in the grass. "The baby's coming," she moaned miserably, and Emma's eyes widened in fear. "Here?! Now?!" she asked in alarm. "Let's get her to town, to the hospital," Sean said with determination, and picked up his estranged girlfriend as gently as possible, but she still moaned in pain.

"Oh my god, oh my god, okay, yes," Emma said in a hurry, running back to the bug. They all piled in and Emma sped towards the hospital at top speed. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel she was gripping it so hard. Sean held his ex's head in his lap, smoothing her sweaty hair back as she moaned.

"Don't worry, we're almost to the hospital," Lily said, and Ashley's eyes shot open wide. "No! I can't have my baby here," she wailed hysterically. "I can't go back there, Gold will take my baby," she cried. Emma glanced back apprehensively over her shoulder.

"I won't let him," Emma said fiercely. "Do you know what you're asking for if you keep this baby? Are you really ready?" Emma asked the young girl behind her. Ashley grabbed her belly as another wave of pain hit her. "Yes," she breathlessly panted out.

"Are you sure? 'Cause I wasn't," Emma confided in her. Ashley didn't say anything. "It's okay if you're not ready, Ashley. Because if you're gonna give that kid it's best chance, it's gonna have to be with someone who's ready," she said to the teenager. Lily was looking pensively Emma's way, considering her like it was the first time she'd ever laid eyes on her.

"You've got to know what that means. Your whole life is going to change. Once you decide it's yours, you can't run away anymore. You gotta grow up, and you can't ever leave," Emma said. "Now do you understand?" Emma asked with a tone of finality.

"Yes, I want my baby," Ashley sobbed.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

It turned out they needn't have sped because Ashley ended up having a very long, tedious labor with Sean at her side. She was exhausted when it was all said and done. Emma and Lily were standing in the waiting room waiting to hear about the baby.

"Ms. Swan? The baby is a healthy, 6 pound baby girl," a nurse in pink scrubs said, smiling as she approached them. "What wonderful news," said a voice from behind them, and they turned to find Mr. Gold with a smirk on his face.

Emma approached him. "You could have mentioned the 'item' you needed from Ashley was her baby," Emma darkly remarked. Mr. Gold simpered and shrugged his shoulders, nonplussed. "Then you might not have aided me," he said truthfully. "I'll thank you for you bringing her to me," he said.

"You're not getting that girl's baby," Emma challenged him. Her eyes turned jade, clearly filled with determination as her resolve strengthened. Lily held her breath as Mr. Gold evaluated Emma with a shrewd look.

"I beg to differ, I have already paid for it," he defied her. "I've come to collect my debt. The only way I'm leaving here without that child is if you pay the price _for_ her. If you will concede that you owe me a debt, only then will I forgive hers," the strange man offered.

Lily wanted to shake her head and warn Emma against it, but something held her back. She had looked at Emma in the car earlier like a stranger, an unsettling feeling growing in her gut. Emma's words of warning earlier were meant for Ashley, but the warning served Lily as well.

She knew Emma wouldn't understand about the wand she was hiding back at their apartment. Emma wouldn't see the value in her plan because she wasn't a believer. The wand might be useless to Lily now, but she had faith against all odds in August and the magic he mentioned in this world.

It was clearly evident in Henry's story book and this town. August had brought them to Storybrooke so that Emma could break the curse. That much was clear. But once Emma broke the curse, then what? Everyone went back to the enchanted forest? What did that mean for Lily?

She would be all alone. She had combed through Henry's story book, and there was no mention of herself. She didn't belong in the Enchanted Forrest. She belonged here, in this world, so that she could find her parents. She couldn't go with Emma to the Enchanted Forrest. Emma might have found her parents, but Lily's journey was far from over. Lily needed to find August. She had hope that with him and the wand, perhaps she could find the answers she was looking for.

Now was not the time to reveal her plan. It was easier to keep the wand to herself and keep quiet about how she had out swindled the man in front of them. She failed to mention to Emma it _might_ be a bad idea to get into dealings with a man she'd stolen from. Lily remained silent knowing Emma was doomed to owe Gold a favor. She knew her lover well enough to know she would agree.

Emma did agree. "If I take over her debt, you'll let her and the baby go?" Emma asked. Mr. Gold smiled deviously, and held out his hand to seal the deal. Emma considered everything for a moment, but her decision ultimately was an easy one. She shook hands with Mr. Gold.

"Why did you do that, Emma?" Lily asked, sounding alarmed, after he had gone. "Because anyone who wants to be a mother should damn well get the chance," she said with a fiery passion.

Lily looked at her with confusion, unused to this new version of Emma. She had never considered Emma as a mother, someone who had a reason to stay in one place and grow roots. Emma was growing up, and Lily was getting left behind.

Lily found herself missing their lives from _before_ , before August and their move. Back then, things were so much less complicated. Emma didn't have time for anyone but her. Lily was her constant, always by her side as they hopped from place to place.

Emma never trusted anyone. Emma didn't have friends because they never stayed anywhere long enough to make a connection with anyone but each other. Lily felt special being the only one close to her, and now she would have to kiss it all goodbye.

 ***~*~*~* ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *~*~*~***

When they went home that night, Emma surprised Lily by rolling on top of her in the middle of the night. She kissed her ex tenderly, and brushed her lips gently over her face. She trailed kisses down her cheek and neck, then stopped to impatiently pull her nightgown from her body.

Lily didn't stop to ask her if she was sure. She helped the blonde pull her nightgown over her head, and started kissing the blonde with fervor again. Their lips crashed together, desperate suddenly, and Emma pulled Lily closer with a hand fisted in her hair at the base of her neck. She roughly punished Lily's lips with searing kisses, and started pressing wet, open mouthed kisses to Lily's neck which made her moan.

Emma looked up in the dark, and shook her head naughtily. "Ssh," she purred against her lover's skin, and took one of Lily's rosy nipples into her mouth. The woman gasped loudly. Emma's hand traveled down Lily's body and crept under the waistband of her pink panties.

She cupped the woman's warmth in her hand, and then leaned up on her elbows enough to place her other hand over Lily's mouth, keeping the woman's noises to a minimum as she fingered her within an inch of cumming.

Lily whimpered when she withdrew her hand, and Emma pressed a shiny finger against Lily's lips. "Ssh, be quiet, you don't want to be a bad girl, do you?" Emma asked her. Lily shook her head, and held her breath as Emma pulled her panties down her legs and breathed sexily upon her wet opening, thighs spread with Emma in between them.

She curled her fingers in the comforter, stifling her groans of pleasure as Emma began to eat her out. "I want you on top," the brunette whispered, and Emma stood to strip off her own night things.

Before long, the two were locked in a lover's embrace and were both stifling their grunts as they came together, intense orgasms like they hadn't shared in over a month. Lily lay back, sweaty in Emma's arms, and wrapped her arm over Emma's middle. She kissed Emma's shoulder as she curled around her, unable to let her go if her life depended on it.


	15. Welcome Home David

_**A/N:** Not fans of lemons, huh?! lol Thanks for following everyone, I truly appreciate your support. Please enjoy this chapter, and know that Once Upon A Time is not my property and I do not profit from this story in any way. ****_

* * *

 **Chapter 15**

 **Welcome Home David**

Emma noticed over the next couple of days that Mary Margaret took her time getting home in the evening. One day, after Mary Margaret came home from volunteering, Emma cornered her. "Hey, where have you been lately? I feel like I haven't seen you very much," she teased in mock sadness. She would never admit it, but Emma had missed having dinner with her supposed mother over the last few days.

Mary Margaret shared a guilty look with her friend. "I'm sorry, really," the school marm said. She fell onto the couch tiredly, lifting her feet to lay across it more comfortably. "I didn't mean to keep anything from you, only I've been staying later at the hospital," she said cautiously.

Emma narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Mary Margaret," she said, scandalized. "You're smarter than that. You know better than to get involved with a married man," she warned her friend. She was well aware of the woman's budding crush on the man she'd saved, despite the discovery that he had a wife.

Mary Margaret told her about how he came to her one day. David asked her to be his volunteer and take a walk with him since he still had to be under hospital supervision. Before the end of their walk together, Mary Margaret told her they both knew they had feelings for each another.

David confessed to her he had no memory of his life with Katherine. He said he had no desire to remember either, with a woman so beautiful in front of him. "I know it's wrong, but when he was in that coma, I swear I touched him somehow," the fanciful school teacher romantically claimed. She simply couldn't get the married man out of her head.

"It's not worth the heart ache," Emma said, shaking her head ruefully. "Well, anyways," Mary Margaret said dismissively. "He's having a welcome home party this weekend, his _wife_ is throwing it for him," Mary Margaret said contemptuously.

"He invited me, and I told him I'd go, and of course you won't let me go alone," Mary Margaret said matter of fact. She had no idea about Emma's aversion to parties, so Lily laughed when she said it so easily. She was wrapped in a towel, fresh from the shower.

"Good luck," the brunette said, and Emma shot her a disdainful look. "Emma doesn't know how to have fun," the brunette teased. She waggled her eyebrows, and Emma chuckled good naturedly.

"Oh, come on, Emma!" Mary Margaret chided the woman whom she had come to consider her best friend. "Lily already said she'd go, you just _have to_ come along," she pleaded with her. Emma relented fairly easy enough. "Okay, I'll go," she agreed.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

When they arrived at David's Welcome Home Bash that weekend, there was a big white banner hung over their front door. "WELCOME HOME DAVID" He looked lost amidst all the people, not knowing or recognizing a soul.

He had a serious case of amnesia and was no closer to remembering anything about his past, if what Mary Margaret confided in her was anything to go by. He looked blankly at the sea of surrounding faces, and Emma sympathized it must be overwhelming for him.

She was wearing a purple sweater and her hair was pulled back into a high pony tail. She wore dark blue denim jeans and knee high black boots. She was seated in the shadows of the entrance hall with Lily, where no one had bothered to flick on the lights.

Most everyone else was either gathered in the dining room, kitchen, or out on the patio adjacent to the kitchen where tiki torches were lit. The couple shared a brief moment of privacy, and Emma's hand rested comfortably in Lily's lap in her grasp.

Lily wore a dark red dress and a delicate, black choker with a small diamond centered in the middle at the hollow of her neck. Emma admired it, and kissed Lily on the cheek, close to her ear, her breath tickling Lily erotically.

It was then that they heard someone approaching, and Henry entered the room. Emma drew back hastily, and Lily missed her warmth immediately. She scowled in the dark in the boy's direction. "What are you guys doing in here?" he asked innocently. "Nothing," Emma said, equally innocent, and Henry came to sit beside them on Emma's other side. Lily glowered.

"You know, Operation Cobra is still on," Henry said to his mother, oblivious to Lily's discomfort in his presence. Lily by now was in on Operation Cobra also, and had spent some time reading over Henry's story book with him. Any person Emma trusted, Henry was inclined to trust as well. That didn't mean she took kindly to being interrupted, though.

"You know why he doesn't remember anything?" the boy asked rhetorically. "Because the curse isn't working on him yet," he answered himself. "Henry, David has amnesia," Emma said, trying to explain things reasonably to the child.

"Which is preventing his mind from remembering any fake memories," he said. "Right, because everyone here has fake stories to keep them from remembering who they really are," Lily said, following along with the kid. "Like Sneezey at the pharmacy," she said proudly, having noticed this detail about the red nosed man.

"Yeah," Henry said, looking excitedly at Lily who seemed to be supporting him. "Now we just have to help David to remember, by getting him together with Ms. Blanchard again," Henry exclaimed. The women sought out the two in question automatically.

David was surrounded by a group of men including Dr. Whale, smiling dumb founded. Mary Margaret was on the opposite side of the room, sitting at the dining room table talking with a few mothers of the students from her class. It was painfully obvious to the three in the entrance hall that they were purposefully avoiding each other because they were trying to hide the fact that they had feelings for each other.

"Didn't we just try that?" Emma asked. "And it woke him up," Henry conveniently reminded her, a triumphant smile on his small face. He was galvanized as David approached them.

"You're the ones who found me, right?" David asked. Emma nodded and he smiled down at them. "Thanks a lot. I owe you guys one, and coincidentally, you're the only ones I know here," he said, bashfully rubbing the back of his neck. "The doctor says maybe I'll remember everything with time, I just have to keep trying to jog my memory in the mean time," he explained.

"Snack?" Katherine Nolan asked, suddenly entering the hall from the kitchen behind her husband. She was holding aloft a plate of crudites. David took one with a small sample fork and stabbed it into a piece of carrot. "Thank you," he said, and she kissed him on the cheek as she went to mingle with more guests.

"So, have you ever used a sword before?" Henry asked out of the blue, and David laughed uncertainly with Emma. Emma shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, " _Kids, what're you gonna do?_ " "Emma, you live with Mary Margaret, right?" he asked, trying to break the awkward silence that ensued.

He could have kicked himself when she sent a warning look his way in response. He forgot he was supposed to be married, and married men weren't supposed to ask after women they weren't married to, no matter how enamored they were with a certain life saving angel.

"Yes, I do," Emma said rather frostily, discouraging him from asking further questions about the woman she lived with. "Is she seeing anyone?" he dared to ask, despite his best judgement. "Oh, she's got her eyes set on someone alright," Lily butted in, using her own tactic to distract and confuse David.

Emma flashed her a warning look, but David was successfully deterred and didn't ask any more questions of the two. He bid them goodbye, and wandered off to mingle with more people he didn't know. Lily said she was ready to go home, and Emma told her to go on ahead and she would find Mary Margaret and follow.

She sent Henry to his mother who was also attending the party, and went about looking for Mary Margaret, only to find her nowhere. On her way out though, she bumped into Sheriff Graham.

"Fancy seeing you here," he said in his thick accent. "You don't seem the party type, if you'll pardon my saying so," he said to her, knowing her bite and malice as he did. He was the one to calm Regina after Emma's little stunt with her tree.

"I'm not," the blonde confessed. "In fact, I'm on my way out now, just looking for Mary Margaret," she said. Graham had had just a little too much to drink, and feeling bold, he gripped her upper arm to hold her in place. "I was wondering, have you given any more thought to that job I offered you?" Emma had.

She looked down at his hand on her arm. "I think that if you promise to stop staring at my ass when you think I'm not looking, we could make some kind of arrangement," she slyly offered, looking meaningfully back up at him. Graham blushed and coughed, embarrassed, as he released her. And here he thought he had been playing it so cool.

Emma saw right through him, and he felt like an exposed, horny teenager. "So you'll accept, and be my deputy now?" he asked, just to be sure. Emma slanted a look towards the dining room, where Regina was chatting with the hostess of the party.

"Are you sure Madam Mayor will approve?"

"I don't care," Graham daringly said. "It's my department, and I have it in the budget," he said as a defense. Never mind how much he wanted Emma around. He wanted it bad enough to risk Regina's wrath, and Emma was ballsy enough to not care if she raised the mayor's ire. He liked that about her. He needed someone who was willing to stand up to her, as God knew he wasn't the right man for the job.

Emma agreed to come into work bright and early Monday morning. Who was she kidding? They couldn't keep getting by on Lily's check alone. She never found Mary Margaret at the party, and headed home to find Lily already up in bed. Mary Margaret was sitting on the living room couch, wrapped in a blanket, watching a movie on TV. There were tears on her face.

"He said he didn't choose Katherine, he doesn't love her, he has feelings for me," Mary Margaret said, dropping the bomb on Emma. Emma went to sit beside her on the couch. "I told him we couldn't," Mary Margaret sadly said.

"You did the right thing," Emma assured her friend. "Generally when you feel like something you want to do isn't right, it isn't," Emma said, a dismayed look on her face at the truth of it all. She knew how much Mary Margaret felt for the former coma patient. Mary Margaret was in a lull romantically, and she believed she was looking for love in all the wrong places.

"It'll be okay," she said, comforting her friend.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

A week and a half later, Emma was settling in nicely at the police station. She rode along with Graham in the cruiser, and Regina was furious when she first found out. Emma could only imagine the tongue lashing he received later.

One day, she was sitting at the office on her lunch, and Graham approached her with a box of donuts. "You know, some cliches are true for a reason. I'm a cop, and I'll be the first to admit I think donuts are delicious," the sheriff said as he sat down on Emma's desk.

He had a predilection for sitting and standing too close to Emma now, but it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. She never encouraged him in any way, or acted intimidated or into it. She just accepted him for what he was, a player. And Emma would never give her heart to a player.

She looked at him suspiciously. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were bribing me into something," she remarked knowingly. Graham flushed. "Well, you know how I said no nights?" he asked. Emma frowned at him, "Yeah?" "Well, I need you to work tonight," he said, smiling his best, most charming white smile.

"Ugh, no one told me you were a liar when I took this job," she said. "Why?" she demanded. "I volunteer at the local animal shelter, and my boss got sick. Someone needs to feed the dogs tonight," Graham lied.

"You're lucky you brought a bear claw," Emma said, and snatched it from the box. About a half hour after Graham left for the day, Mary Margaret came barreling into the station like a flurry.

"Emma!"

"What, what's goin' on?" Emma asked in alarm. "David left his wife, and he wants me to meet him tonight!" Mary Margaret almost squealed the news.

Emma shook her head in disbelief. She would have never thought he had it in him. Married men did not just leave their wives just like that. But apparently David had it easy, not remembering his enough to miss her.

"Well, are you going to go?" Emma questioned her. "You think I should?" Mary Margaret asked, finally asking the question she needed to know; was it alright if she went? Because she was dying to go.

"It's one thing for him to say he has feelings for you, quite another for him to leave his wife," Emma thoughtfully remarked. "To me, that makes him fair game," Emma said, encouraging her best friend.

"Is this really happening?" Mary Margaret asked.

"I don't know, you tell me," Emma said. "Go get him, tiger."

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

After Mary Margaret left, Emma went out on foot patrol later that night. It was a nice fall night out, and she felt like taking a walk. Storybrooke was such a sleepy little town, it was unlikely she would need her cruiser in a hurry in the middle of the night.

On her walk, she found her feet taking her towards the mayor's manor to be near her son. That was why she was so alarmed when she saw someone, a figure, climbing out of the mayor's window in the middle of the night.

She gave chase after the figure, and with a big oof, the person fell to the ground in a heap with her on top of them. She raised her flash light to get a good look at the culprit, and was faced with the astonished face of none other than Sheriff Graham. "I can explain," Graham rushed to say.

"Save it," Emma said, extricating herself from him. She did not offer him a hand up. "This is why you needed me to work tonight? So you could get some?" she incredulously asked. "Why were you climbing out her window?" Emma asked. Graham had the decency to look embarrassed. "She doesn't want Henry to know," he answered.

"Some sick and hungry animals, huh? You can finish my shift for me," Emma snarled, handing Graham her flashlight and set of keys. She stormed off the opposite direction, back towards home which wasn't so far. She didn't want to go back to the station and risk seeing him there also if he caught up with her.

When she got home, Mary Margaret was laying on her bed and even in the dark, Emma could hear quiet sniffles coming from her form on the bed. She guessed her evening had not gone as planned. Emma crept up behind Mary Margaret, and rolled onto the bed beside her.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" she asked. Mary Margaret sobbed and Emma felt her shake her head. "Do you want to be alone?" Emma asked. "No," the heart broken woman said. She would tell her friend about her night in the morning. For now, she just couldn't speak, and Emma sensed that as she fell asleep, hand resting reassuringly on Mary Margaret's side as she nestled into her from behind.


	16. Green, the color of envy and her eyes

**Chapter 16**

 **Green, the color of envy and her eyes**

Lily came down the stairs that morning to see Emma laying on the bed with Mary Margaret. They weren't spooning, but Emma was snoring softly, serene. Mary Margaret lay curled on her side, her face tucked closer in towards the pillow. Lily fixed herself a glass of chocolate milk and stared at the wild curly blonde hair of her... girlfriend?

Lily wasn't sure what she wanted. Of course, she always wanted Emma, always and forever. She and Lily had made a pact as teens to always be there for each other, no matter what. For the first time though, Lily felt like something was pulling her away from what their life once was. Things could never be the same again. Lily had spent the last week mulling things over.

Emma had a son now. Emma had a son she wasn't willing to leave anytime _soon_. Emma had a son that believed in fantasies the same way that their would-be friend August did. He read the very same book that the writer had left behind for him in Storybrooke. Lily was inclined to believe what the book said was true, and she had had some time to read the heavy volume with Henry.

She scanned the pages for some sign of herself in the stories. Her hopes were dashed when she found none. Emma, the Savior, of course was written about and her parents Prince Charming and Snow were heavily featured. Seeing their pictures in the illustrations made her scrutinize them with hard eyes.

If what Henry said was true (and she believed him) then Emma was laying in bed with her mother right now. Her mother was trapped in a life where she was doomed never to know her own daughter laying next to her, her husband married to another.

Although she and Emma were behaving more like lovers again, Lily couldn't suppress the gnawing feeling growing in her heart. Bitterness lurked in the darkest corners of her mind. She couldn't deny any longer that Emma was dragging her down by not believing in their true cause.

Lily had always been on a mission to find their missing parents. Emma had the gall not to care if they found them, and yet here she was, the one reunited! Emma was too distracted by this son of hers in this crazy town to notice let alone believe what she had.

She was blind to the fact that she had finally found her parents, even if they were cursed and it was hard to swallow. Lily couldn't help but feel angry and cheated. First, August left them, and now she was left with no clues whatsoever? Where was her happy ending? Where were _her_ parents?

Emma didn't seem to notice her plight. She didn't care about finding her parents anymore because she was trying to _be_ one. Lily wasn't interested in being Henry's kind of step-mom, however. She didn't want to be anyone's anything, stuck in _this_ town. She was growing antsy in the strange little town, waiting around for a man that might never return.

Lily needed to go and find August. She needed him so that they could find the man who could help them find their parents. Perhaps the man could possibly use her magic wand to assist them. Lily loved Emma, but she couldn't stay put when there weren't any answers about her own parents forthcoming.

What she demanded in life was some answers,and in order to get them, she had to keep moving. She had to face the truth. Emma didn't share her passion any longer. Their lives were starting to diverge down different paths, and Emma didn't seem willing to follow Lily where she must go.

Emma and Mary Margaret stirred. They all decided to go to the local coffee shop for a change and get their morning pastries. Mary Margaret bought a blueberry scone, Lily a cinnamon bun, and Emma a chocolate chip chocolate muffin the size of a small planet. They settled in at a booth near the window where the sun was shining.

"What happened with David?" Lily asked tentatively once they were all comfortable. Emma flashed a warning look her way, but Lily persisted. Damn if she hurt Mary Margaret's feelings, she was interested to know, because something wicked in her wanted to hear the gossip.

Mary Margaret stirred her coffee with a frown, her eyes peering down into the milky drink. "I went to meet him last night, and when I got there, he told me he's cured of his amnesia. He remembers everything now."

Emma's hand shot out to cover Mary Margaret's in a comforting squeeze. Lily didn't miss the action, but Emma was so focused on the school teacher's tale of woe she didn't notice Lily bristling beside her. Mary Margaret was emptying sugar packets into her coffee and missed the look of envy consumed on Lily's face, also. "He said even though he does have feelings for me, it's only right that he give things another chance with _his_ _wife_ ," Mary Margaret tearfully said, sobbing out the last words.

"Who needs him, huh? He's not all he's cracked up to be, you know?" Lily tried to dismiss her friend's feelings. Emma frowned, but agreed with her girlfriend. "You can't blame him, it's not like he chose to get his memories back all of a sudden," Emma said to the school marm. "You guys knew this could happen."

"Shit happens sometimes," Lily said in an off-hand manner. Emma handed the school teacher a wad of napkins from the dispenser on the table to wipe her tears. "Why do I get the feeling we should be having this conversation over stronger drinks?" Emma asked the two.

She leaned with her elbows on the table and asked them if they wanted to go and blow off some steam at the local bar later on that night. Emma hadn't stirred up any trouble of her own in the town thus far, and hadn't been drinking very much at all. She figured helping a friend drown her woes for a night was the least of her problems.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

After breakfast, Emma headed to the station and Mary Margaret went in the direction of the school. Lily drove off in the bug from the station after dropping off Emma to go back to the apartment. Once there, as she often did when she was alone, she went into their bathroom upstairs and removed her hidden wand.

She sat down hard on she and Emma's shared bed with a heavy sigh. The wand was curled protectively in her hands, and she stared down at it contemplatively. She was due at the diner for work in a couple hours. Would anyone even notice if she didn't go in?

Lily didn't belong in this town any longer. She wanted to be forgotten, to be gone in a poof so fast no one would notice until she was already gone. It would give her longer to find August before Emma came looking for her, if she did. That was a big if.

She didn't care if it was fool hardy to go looking for August. His mysterious absence might mean he was dead, but perhaps not. Answers in life could not be found if they were not sought out first. Lily had to know where he was and why he had abandoned them. She had to know if he could really help her like he claimed.

Lily made her decision. She packed her meager belongings and added a few framed pictures of Emma and herself among her things. She grabbed the yellow bug's keys off the dining room table. The swan key chain dangled from her grasp as she dropped a folded note onto the table in their place.

She closed the front door behind her with a heavy heart and leaned against it. Her head fell back against the door with a dull thud, and tears were swimming in her brown eyes. She and Emma would just have to part ways, and she just had to hope that they would find each other again. She couldn't be part of Emma's journey anymore. At least not for now.

 _What a familiar scene_ , Lily thought as she stared into the rear view mirror of the bug. Her heart was racing. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel as she clutched it for dear life, speeding away from the little town. She could see it getting smaller and smaller in the rear view, and it filled her with nostalgia how many times she and Emma had sped away from other places in their past just like this. Only this time, she was missing her partner in crime.

She knew Emma would never have gone with her, not without Henry. And she knew Regina would stop at anything from letting that happen, so Lily made the only decision that benefited her. She left town without asking, without leaving a trace of a hint that she might be leaving. Emma and she had always been experts at it. She hoped that Emma could forgive her one day.

Emma would just have to understand her burning desire to learn her own origins. Lily couldn't afford to sit around waiting for some man that might never come back. She had to get on with her life. Anything was better than watching Emma get closer to her parents while she was left always to yearn for her own.

Lily was determined to keep unraveling the tale that was her life. This decision might destroy her, but she would rise from the ashes of one life to begin a new one like the legendary phoenix. She would keep on searching until she found what she was looking for.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

Emma got off work that night, and made sure to text Lily and Mary Margaret. She asked Mary Margaret to skip volunteering, and the school teacher, who would have normally protested, simply texted back 'K.' Lily didn't respond. Emma got a ride home from the station with Sheriff Graham, and she waved to him as he took off down the block.

Emma didn't expect Lily to be at the apartment. She was supposed to be at work. No one had called to inform her Lily never made it to her shift. The blonde didn't notice the white note on the dining room table. She went straight to the bathroom to take a shower to get ready for the night. When Mary Margaret came home, they would go together to pick up Lily and Ruby and head to the Rabbit's Hole.

Emma left the shower feeling relaxed and at ease. When she opened the closet door, she didn't notice that Lily's things were missing right away. She simply chose a red quarter length sleeve top that hugged her waist and highlighted her bust and pulled it on. She brushed her hair to a shiny finish and applied bright red lipstick to her lips. She wore skin tight, dark denim jeans and brown boots to complete her ensemble.

Mary Margaret's car appeared in the driveway, and she came in carrying the mail. She was about to toss it all on the table to open later, when she noticed the note on the table. She opened it curiously, and immediately wished she hadn't.

 _Dear Emma,_

 _I'm glad that you found your parents, but I hope you understand that I have to keep searching for mine. I have to go now, and I understand that you have to stay. I promise though that we_ _will_ _see each other again. I love you._

 _-Lily_

"Emma?"

The school teacher called out to her room mate, and Emma came down the stairs. "Yeah, what's up?" she asked, walking up to Mary Margaret. She raised an eyebrow curiously when she saw the letter in Mary Margaret's hand. "What's that?" she asked.

"Here, it's for you," she said, extending the letter to the blonde. Emma looked questioningly at her troubled expression, and looked down at the page. Her face registered shock, and then a hard, flinty look came over her jade green eyes as she read. She had done it again. Lily had left without her.

Emma swore, and threw the letter down. She was too pissed to cry, even though she _was_ hurt. Where did Lily get off, saying "glad you found your parents"? Emma internally scoffed. As if Lily believed what Henry said, that the woman they were living with was her mother! It was absurd, even if she found herself wondering about it more than any sane person should.

It was definitely crazy! Emma let out a frustrated growl and sat down at the dining room table. Mary Margaret approached her from behind, and gave her tense shoulders a gentle squeeze. "I understand if you want to cancel our outing," she softly said, offering the blonde a small mercy.

Emma laughed bitterly aloud. "As if! I need a drink more than ever now," the blonde said determinedly. Mary Margaret could see it was useless to stop her, and was glad she wouldn't be the only one crying over her beer that night.

"Alright, I'll get ready and we'll go," the school teacher said.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ * ONCE * UPON * A * TIME * ~ * ~ * ~ ***

An hour later, the girls had arrived at the Rabbit's Hole bar. It was a Friday night, and some of the less respectable denizens of Storybrooke had the same idea to blow off steam. Sheriff Graham was among them, and he was seated on a tall bar stool eyeing the front door when Emma, Mary Margaret, and Ruby straggled in.

The three women found a tall table near the dance floor, and the low lights and pulsating bass of the music had them wired for the evening. Ruby ordered a round of shots and was dressed to the nines as usual. Her long dark hair was swept over her shoulders and she wore a small, sequined black dress that came mid thigh on her long legged self. Her calves looked killer in her spikey black heels, and she was definitely looking to go home with someone tonight.

Secretly, she wasn't the only one. Mary Margaret downed her shot of tequila and bit down on a lime, and when she pulled it away she noticed Dr. Whale standing across the bar. He hadn't noticed her yet, and she desperately hoped that she could catch his eye. She preened her hair a little. She needed a reason to forget David's rejection,if only for one night.

Mary Margaret was wearing a white dress that tapered in at the waist and flared out above a tight white mini skirt. On her back, there was an open space that formed a heart and it was very cute from behind coupled with her hair cut. She wore blue, pointy shoes and carried a small, matching blue clutch. There were pearls around her throat and on her earrings.

The school teacher and Emma approached the bar after Ruby caught Victor the mechanic's eye. She joined him on the dance floor, and Emma and Mary Margaret ordered cocktails at the bar.

As they took a seat, they noticed Graham at the other end of the bar. They raised their glasses at him in greeting, but he didn't move to join them. He was still ashamed that Emma had caught him sneaking out of Regina's so he kept his distance.

The women passed some time at the bar, and eventually Graham noticed Dr. Whale approaching the two. The doctor only had eyes for Mary Margaret, and Graham could tell by the pink of her cheeks that she was more than interested in him. He watched as Emma excused herself and headed to the ladies room.

Graham had had one too many. He was sitting at the bar feeling sorry for himself when they came in. He had decided to come to the bar tonight because Emma had mentioned that's where she was going. It made him feel like a lovesick puppy dog, following her about with no chance in the world.

What made him believe he had no chance? Besides being rebuffed many times, Graham had gotten to know Emma a little over her time at the police station. He saw how often she came and went from the station with her girlfriend, that Lily.

He had seen the two lovers share a few kisses over the last couple of weeks and his stomach knotted up at the prospect. He was filled with bitter resentment at the image. He was unbelievably turned on and yet pissed simultaneously.

He was upset because of her refusal, and more importantly, her reason for rejecting him left him at a loss. How could he blame her for not being into him when she was clearly into women? Graham felt awash with desperation, grief, and confusion about his feelings for the blonde.

That was what compelled him to follow her out into the night when she left the bar. They could both tell that the other two girls were getting lucky tonight, and that left Emma the odd man out.

She was resigned to this fact as she made her way home, and Graham trailed behind her a short way. He told himself he was only looking out for her since she was unstable on her feet, wobbling a little as she walked.

"Graham?" Emma called, looking over her shoulder. She had suddenly noticed she wasn't alone on the street, and thought to look behind her even in her inebriated state.

She came to a stop and tucked her hands into her pants pockets, waiting for the Sheriff to catch up. She was willing to forgive him in this state. She was feeling lonely, leaving the other two girls behind at the bar, and missing Lily already.

The wind blew her blonde hair, and Graham advanced on her and looked at her with longing in his dark blue eyes. He tugged her into an alley nearby, and she drunkenly followed him, thinking he just wanted to talk, maybe explain himself for lying to her.

When he turned around though, he was suddenly pinning her against a cement wall and invading her personal space unmistakably. He loomed over her, and Emma stood rooted to the spot as his lips crashed down against hers, stealing a taste of forbidden fruit not afforded to him.

"What the hell?" Emma sputtered. She shoved him off, but in the moment before she pushed him away, his kiss had felt strong and insistent, skilled. That pause was a moment too long, as fate would have it. The pair had no idea Mayor Mills was sitting in her car across the street, and her eyes were narrowed to slits of rage.

* * *

 **A/N:** Aw, shit! What will the mayor do?! Stay tuned for more :) (It's not what you think :P) My heart broke writing Lily leaving, just fyi. Please leave any constructive criticism or encouragement in the form of a review, I would be eternally grateful.


	17. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter

_**A/N:**_ _Italics read as a flashback in this chapter._

* * *

 **Chapter 17**

 **The Heart is a Lonely Hunter**

Emma shoved Graham away from her. "What the hell?!"

Graham looked shocked, and more than a little guilty. He stumbled a few hasty steps back. "What the hell was that for?!" Emma nearly shouted. "It's like you don't even see me. I couldn't stand the way you were looking at me," Graham mumbled, hanging his head in shame.

"What do you mean? What does it matter how I look at you?" Emma asked exasperately. She was not and had _never been_ interested in Graham, despite what others might think. She thought she had made herself perfectly clear to him.

In fact, she was pretty damn certain she and Lily had made him painfully aware of their feelings for each other. Always at Lily's naughty insistance, she liked to put on a show for the horny Sheriff. She liked to prove a point and let it be known in no uncertain terms that Emma was hers. _Not anymore_ , Emma thought painfully.

Her outrage grew as she scowled at the man in front of her, demanding answers. "I know how you must think of me, how could I ever land myself in her pocket?" Graham asked with frustration. He was asking her as much as himself, as he had many times over the years.

He could never explain his illicit attraction to the downright nasty mayor who lived to lord her power over everyone. He was no better than anyone else in the town, he knew if he stayed on her good side it would be better for him so he obeyed her summons. Or so he thought.

"What do I care how you got there? If you're trying to get relationship advice from me, I'm the last person you should be taking it from. I don't care to talk about bad relationships, least of all with you," she growled. She turned her back on him and left him in a huff, walking back towards her apartment since she no longer had any other form of transportation.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ ONCE * UPON * A * TIME ~ * ~ * ~ ***

The next day after work, it was well past twilight by the time Emma pulled her cruiser into the station. She was driving it for the time being since Lily had stolen her bug.

Regina was standing innocuously at the front of the police station, waiting for her. Her stance was calm yet regal, and Emma was reminded for the first time about her similiarity to a predatory panther swishing its tail indulgently before it striked.

"You have some gall," Regina said, her tone almost conversational as she greeted the deputy. Emma slammed the door to her cruiser and leaned against the hood, keeping some distance between the two of them.

"What did I do this time?" Emma asked exasperatedly. _Honestly, this woman_ , Emma thought with some chagrin. Her eyebrows furrowed into a challenging stance and Regina barrelled on. "I don't know what I ever did to you to deserve this. Why do you keep coming after everything I hold dear?"

 _Hold the phone._ Emma was starting to sound like the villian here. She cursed both herself and Graham as realization dawned on her. _Of course_ , the mayor had eyes everywhere and they hadn't exactly been discrete.

"Regina, you gotta believe me, we were drunk," Emma said automatically in her defense. "It was a mistake," Emma continued, and Regina was getting closer by the minute as she bridged the space between them.

"Why don't you just get the hell out of here?! None of this happened until you came around, quit wrecking my life!" the mayor shouted, and Emma was not going to stand here and let this woman get in her face like this. She was all too ready for a fight, and she was willing to play dirty this time.

"Did you ever stop to think it's not me, it's you?" Emma asked piercingly. The mayor looked as if she'd been struck. _"What?"_

"Henry came to find _me_. Graham's the one who kissed me. Neither of them wanted to be with you. Did you ever stop to think that maybe you should take a look in the mirror and ask yourself just what's so horrible about you that has everyone in your life running away from you?"

Regina's temper boiled dangerously with each word and the lid on her anger exploded all at once. Regina struck fast like a panther, all dark fur and rage. Her blow landed hard and true against Emma's temple.

The blonde barely had time to get a good jab of her own in, but she was glad to see she managed one shot to Regina's big red mouth. It was a glorious, however fleeting, moment. In their scuffle, neither woman noticed when Sheriff Graham appeared in the station's parking lot until he was hauling Emma off of Regina. "Go!" he shouted at Emma.

Emma didn't need to be told twice.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ ONCE * UPON * A * TIME ~ * ~ * ~ ***

Emma went home to lick her wounds alone. She quietly flicked on the light in the tiny half bath right off her room. Emma went to the oval mirror above the sink and saw the shiner developing on her left brow. She should have known better to go for the low blow with Regina. She winced as she pressed a warm cloth to it.

This was all over a stupid, drunken mistake. Emma was a victim in all this, but she couldn't help but feel partially responsible for sinking to Regina's level. In truth, it _wasn't_ Emma's fault that Graham had tied on one too many beers. He was the one that followed _her_ out onto the street that night.

Emma damned herself internally, going to lay on her lonely bed. The sheets was floral scented and Emma found comfort in the familiar smell as she planted face first onto the bed. She wistfully recognized the barest scent of Lily's hair on the pillows and inhaled deeply.

Mary Margaret was grading papers downstairs at the dining room table. She had barely looked up when Emma entered, and hadn't noticed the shiner on Emma's brow since the blonde was so fast to go upstairs. Emma could have went and joined her friend to seek comfort, but she found herself unable to get up. She sobbed in defeat and sorrow into her pillow.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ ONCE * UPON * A * TIME ~ * ~ * ~ ***

Meanwhile, across town, Graham went back to the Mayor's Manor with her.

Graham never understood the mysterious mayor's pull on him. While he was irresistably attracted to Emma, there was no denying Regina was also a very sexy, beautiful woman. He didn't deserve her when he lusted after another as he did. He could not _believe_ that he was so careless that Regina had seen them.

He wondered why he even had the pleasure of running his hands down her heavenly body at all. The dark haired mayor seemed to like them there though, so she kept having him come back around. He felt guilty now, never knowing what danger his heart was truly in.

 _Regina is... dark, mysterious, demanding. Dominatrix style almost,_ he thought with a perverted smile. What she asked for, she got. He felt some magical pull towards her, helpless to resist her dark eyes and seductive smiles. When she invited him into dinner one night, that was how their whole dalliance began.

He had come to investigate some kind of home invasion across the street, which turned out to be a false alarm. She beckoned him to her front door, and when he came closer, she invited him inside for some warm food. He got his fill of both her and her food that night. She was most forward, and knew what she was looking for. He was only too glad to oblige her, felt compelled wordlessly to follow her commands.

He somehow always knew when she was craving him. Their relationship was truly sensual and no-strings attached. Until this moment. Graham looked down at the sleeping woman in the crook of his arm and considered her offer from before.

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ ONCE * UPON * A * TIME ~ * ~ * ~ ***

 _"Do you love her?" Regina asked, tears shining at the tips of her dark eyelashes. "Have you had sex with her?" she asked. To his surprise, she no longer sounded angry, more forlorn than anything. Graham automatically felt a pull to comfort her and assuage her fears and stepped in close to her. His calloused hand came up to cup her soft cheek, and he looked deeply into her brown eyes._

 _"I don't love her," he said. He was telling the truth. Graham wasn't sure he knew what love was. And either way, what was the point in admitting he thought he could have, only to find out Emma clearly didn't prefer him? Or any man for that matter, Graham sourly thought._

 _"She and I have never been together, Regina," he solemnly said. He left out that he wished they had._

 _Regina closed the gap between them, so great was her relief. She hungrily devoured his lips and their lip lock turned passionate, quickly taking things to the four-poster bed in Regina's room. Her bedroom door was locked and it was well into the night by now, past Henry's bed time. As usual._

 _This time, however, when Graham went to sit up and put his clothes back on after, Regina stopped him. "Stay," she said. "Stay with me for awhile," she said, smiling lazily and tugging him back down into bed._

 _Graham wouldn't admit he was confused, but he laid there and wondered why the change of heart. She never usually wanted him to stay, but he decided it wouldn't do him any good to ask too many questions._

 _Regina snuggled into his side, her head resting on his slightly hairy chest. "I've been thinking," she started hestiantly. "You've been thinking about..." Graham trailed off, urging her to continue._

 _"I think we should tell Henry about you. It's about time you stop sneaking out the window and use a door like a normal human being. And if you want, you can stay and have breakfast with us in the morning," she invited him into her life, to become part of her family._

 _He didn't take her gesture lightly. Graham felt... something.. for Regina, and he knew he was fond of Henry, the bright young kid that he was. "I suppose he's handled a lot pretty well so far," Graham observed. "Maybe it couldn't hurt," he said._

 *** ~ * ~ * ~ ONCE * UPON * A * TIME ~ * ~ * ~ ***

And here Graham remained, beside the formidable mayor in her bed as she slept. She made absolutely no sense, but he was content to share her bed with her. Before long, he had dozed off beside her. It wasn't much longer after that the mayor rose beside him, stretching languidly. She was wearing a sheer pink nightie that he loved and it hung tantalizing high on her thighs as she got up.

She approached her vanity and sat down on the ornate resting chair. It had a regal design, red velvet cushioning, and black ivy winding up the chair's legs that supported her. She looked into the three way mirror with a border of bright bulbs all around it in front of her.

Her face in her reflection was serious, that of a scheming Queen from another land. A smirk curled at the corners of her lips and she reached into her vanity's drawer. She withdrew a small mirrored glass box and put it on the vanity before her, flipping the lid back to reveal a large, pulsating red heart.

She reached her hand into the box and stroked the muscle with a lover like touch. Her fingertip was soft as she trailed it across the surface, and slowly grasped the beating organ in her hand. She stared down at it with hatred and malice on her face _. How she wouldn't love to..._

She longingly stared down at the organ, and slowly unfurled her fingers from around it. She dropped it back into the box, but she didn't move to place it back into the vanity's drawer. She would need this much sooner than anticipated.


	18. Stranger in Storybrooke

**Chapter 18**

 **Stranger in Storybrooke**

The rest of November and early December passed in a lonely fashion for Emma. Henry was too busy with his new little family for her and her woes. Now with Miss Mayor not sneaking out of the manor nightly to meet with her sheriff, Henry didn't have time for his clandestine meetings with Emma.

The fact also remained that she was still prohibited from seeing the boy much, per Regina. The deputy still managed to meet him at his castle every now and then after school, thankfully. Gone were the times of having him to herself for hours, whole stretches at a time.

The mayor was ever watchful. Frankly, her decision to make her relationship with Graham common knowledge found Henry didn't mind spending time with the two of them. His mother seemed happier almost, and he found himself thinking of her as the Evil Queen less and less.

He still longed to see Emma more often, but he was distracted by another male's presence in his house. For so long, it had been just him and his mother, and now Graham was waking up there in the mornings more and more often.

He put Henry at ease and was a friend to the boy. When his mother scolded him for not doing his homework, Graham would wink behind her back and maybe give him a little more TV time. Henry trusted Graham to keep his mouth shut. The sheriff knew that Emma and Henry were seeing each other behind Regina's back and he kept quiet about it.

Best of all, Graham always listened when he chose to talk about his story book and never judged him. He nodded sagely and never questioned Henry's sanity, which was an enormous relief to the young boy. It was enough to put his mother's boyfriend in his good graces. Henry found himself wanting to defeat his mother less and less, he just wanted her to be happy and love him.

One day, Graham went out to the cruiser to warm it up in the chill, December morning. It was almost christmas time, and the streets were covered in pristine white snow. Many of the citizens of Storybrooke would be chipping ice off their windows before they set out on their morning commute.

Henry was waiting for his mother to come out to the car, she always waited until it was well heated before she made her way outside. Henry heard a foregin sound, the roar of a motocycle engine, and he saw a guy wearing a black helmet come riding down their street on a shining black and chrome bike.

The man conveniently stalled out in front of the Mayor's Mansion, his bike coming to a stop. Henry knew that strangers in Storybrooke always proved interesting, so he walked towards the stranger at the end of his drive curiously.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Henry asked the stranger.

"Fixing my bike," the stranger replied shortly. He had removed his helmet to look at his bike and he had short, dark brown hair with a five o'clock shadow. His eyes were bright blue when he glanced at the young boy, evaluating the kid.

He was so young looking, fly away hair and bright yellow back pack clutched in his hand. _Maybe ten years old_ , the stranger guessed him to be. "No, I meant, what are you doing in town?" the youngster asked. They heard his mother call out from behind him suddenly, alarm in her voice, "Henry?!"

Regina was suddenly walking down their drive to stand protectively behind her son, hand on his shoulder. She was beautiful, tall, and formidable with her angry dark eyed glare and long, professional looking black dress that fit her like a glove. She confronted the stranger.

"Who are you? What are you doing talking to my son?" she asked hostilely.

The stranger pulled a face, and shrugged his shoulders as if to show he meant no harm. He took a step back and held his hands out, palms displayed. He chuckled darkly at the mayor's paranoia. "Don't worry, I'm not some kind of kidnapper. My bike broke down, and I'm just looking for a room to rent around here," he explained himself.

The mayor considered the stranger with a cooler gaze. She evaluated the stubble on his chin, his charming smile, and the provocative image he made standing next to his motorcycle.

"Alright," Regina said shrewdly. "If you're looking for a place, Granny's Bed and Breakfast isn't far from here," the mayor said, giving the stranger directions. He was on his bike and long gone by the time she realized he had never answered her first question. She still had no idea who he was.

 ********** ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *********

When Graham arrived to the station, he informed his deputy of their mission for the day.

"There's a stranger in Storybrooke Regina wants us to check out," Graham gruffly told her. Things were still uncomfortable between them, especially since Regina had ordered that Emma wasn't to see Henry and Graham was all too aware of her sadness.

After their drunken kiss, they hadn't talked about it since. They were both trying to pretend like it never happened and act like mature adults. It didn't mean anything, Graham told himself. He was with Regina now. Emma was just feeling awkward because she had been the one to reject him, but she thought with time they could learn to get along again.

"As much as Regina has tried to prove so in my case, there is nothing against the law about visiting Storybrooke," Emma said mirthfully, trying to lighten the mood. Graham latched onto the bait and gave a throaty laugh. "Well, be that as it may, it would still be a good idea to check him out, as he was last seen talking to someone we all care about," the sheriff said, looking pointedly at her.

Emma's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Henry? What's this guy doing talking to Henry?" the deputy asked, hackles raised in defense of her only son. "Yeah, that will be our first question when we find him," Graham replied, and he shrugged his Sheriff's coat on. Emma was hot on his heels as they headed out the door.

 ********** ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *********

"Where do all new arrivals go when they come into town?" Graham asked rhetorically. "Well that's easy, Granny's B & B," Emma answered as she noticed that was where they were presently heading. "You mean we're just going to go knocking on this perfect stranger's door and accost him?" Emma asked shrewdly, looking over at the Sheriff with a cocked eyebrow. "In the name of law, answer our questions?" she mocked.

"No, that would be weird," Sheriff Graham conceded. He decided to change direction towards Granny's diner instead, and hoped that the stranger would show up. "Everyone in town goes to Granny's, of course someone would tell the stranger where to get a bite to eat," Graham slyly said as he redirected the cruiser.

Sure enough, Graham spotted the motorcycle Regina and Henry described right away. He got out of the cruiser, and was confused when Emma remained in the car. She was staring out the window with a stricken expression on her face. She seemed reluctant to get out of the car, looking at the motorcycle parked outside Granny's. The eerily familiar motorcycle that she was **sure** she had seen before.

"You coming, deputy?" the sheriff asked, checking on his partner. She definitely seemed spooked for some reason, but she shook her head hard. "Oh, yeah," she mumbled, alighting from the vehicle and heading towards the front entrance with Graham.

Seated at a corner booth with his face to the dart throwing wall, the stranger was watching Ruby throw darts. The law officers could see his black riding helmet sitting on the table across from him. He was holding a cup of a coffee as he chatted up the scantily clad waitress who was eyeing him like a hungry she-wolf in between throws.

Graham approached the table, and Emma walked trepidatiously behind him a pace or two. If her gut feeling was right, she knew exactly who was sitting at that table.

"Sir? Mind if we have a few words?" Graham asked politely, leaning down slightly to address the man. The stranger in the chair turned, and his piercing blue eyes caught Emma's immediately.

"Why, no sir, not at all," August said mischievously, looking into Emma's beautiful green eyes. She was a sight for sore eyes. He gestured to the seat across from him and Graham slid into the booth, perturbed by how strange Emma was acting. He tried to shrug it off.

"I'm Sheriff Graham, and this is Deputy Swan," Graham introduced themselves. Both of the men expected her to take a seat with them, but Emma was momentarily caught up in a wave of emotions as she stood there frozen.

She was incredulous, angry beyond belief. She had initially felt her heart leap at his mischievous tone and his blue eyes, glad to see him despite the circumstances of his departure. But as soon as she remembered Lily was gone to find his sorry ass, it had her feeling angry all over again. _Now_ he chose to pop back up and come back into her life?! She couldn't trust this sorry bastard farther than she could throw him!

"Cat got your tongue, _deputy_?" August teased. Emma wanted more than anything to upbraid him right then and there, but she thought better of it. She sat down heavily next to Graham. "No," Emma gritted out between clenched teeth, annoyed. She was clearly going to have to introduce him.

"Graham, I know who this is. This is August Booth," Emma said, quirking an eyebrow at the writer. "August W. Booth, if I remember correctly," Emma said, "I regret to say I know him. He's a writer, old friend of Lily's from Boston." Emma eyed the writer, silently urging him to go along with her. "That's right," August agreed, nodding eagerly to confirm her story.

"Yeah, how is she doing anyway?"

"I wouldn't know," Emma said rather frostily, and Graham got the distinct impression these two were more than just old acquaintances. Emma wasn't usually rude without good reason. "She left here last month, and I haven't heard from her."

Her words were clipped and tone short, practically hissed through clenched teeth. It was obviously still a sore subject for the deputy, bringing up the fact that her girlfriend left her. Emma's posture was ramrod straight and Graham noticed sitting beside her that her hands were balled into fists under the table. He had to admit he was a little smug feeling over the whole thing, even now. Now neither of them had a chance at love.

August's blue eyes widened in alarm and he leaned in towards the law officers. "Do you know where she went? I came all this way to see her, you see," August told them for Graham's benefit. He was painting himself as some long lost lover, and Graham was left confused. Had Lily left Emma for a man, this man? Was that the source of her frosty disposition?

"She was always a fan of warmer weather. Maybe you should head south, deep south," Emma retorted, green eyes sparking with anger. She was implying he go to hell where he deserved to be, _the bastard_. Now she was all alone in this damned town and not even Henry to comfort herself with, all because this man had waited too long to come back around. She thought she deserved an explanation, just not now.

"I'll take that under advisement," August coolly replied, winking mischievously at her. He loved getting a rise out of her, even now. He knew he had no right to act like nothing had happened, but he couldn't resist goading her. He was all too aware she would be wanting answers soon, and he was ashamed to admit he was eager to prolong the conversation a while longer. He directed himself towards the Sheriff.

"What was it you wanted to ask me, officer?"

Graham looked uncertainly Emma's direction, but the blonde was stone cold. She didn't seem particularly inclined to take the lead on their line of questioning. "It's nice to know that you and Ms. Swan know each other. That puts us all at ease," Graham assured the stranger.

He was hesitant to look foolish in front of the town's new arrival, but he knew Regina would have his head if he didn't ask. "Since what we were going to ask you was what you were doing outside the mayor's mansion this morning?"

August laughed, stupefied. _These people really are skittish around here._ "As I told that kid this morning, my bike broke down," he answered simply. He didn't need them all to know that he had went there on purpose to acquaint himself with Henry.

August was privy to the fact that Henry was a huge piece of the puzzle involved in breaking the curse on Storybrooke. The writer naturally sought to befriend the kid. He would be lying if he didn't admit he also felt a sense of guilt roil in his belly looking at the child.

Because of his part in landing Emma in jail, mother and son had been separated and Henry grew up without his birth mom. If August was honest with himself, he wanted a look upon the life of the kid he'd so drastically altered, all for the sake of this curse and his mother's ability to break it.

"Well, that settles that," Emma said, patting the table definitively. She went to rise and Graham stopped her short. "Well, not exactly. Will you be leaving town now, Mr. Booth?" Graham asked, already hearing in his head Regina's next question. It was his job to be useful and bring back answers. "Since Lily has departed and all?"

August's eyes lost a little of their playful gleam. His gaze turned serious, and he regarded Emma silently for a moment. The look in his eyes wasn't missed by Graham, and he raised an eyebrow curiously.

Emma was determinedly not looking at either of them. She was trying unsuccessfully to hail down Ruby for a coffee. The waitress was suddenly very absorbed in her task of straightening the ketchup caddies on the table next to them where she could easily hear all.

"August, call me August, please," August politely insisted. He regarded the Sheriff with a shrewd gaze. "Even though Lily isn't here now, I'm confident she'll come back," August said. "Since I just missed her, I take it," August added, looking inquisitively Emma's way. From the blonde's prickly exterior, he surmised the pain of Lily leaving her was still pretty fresh. He could read Emma very well even after months apart. He had always been able to tell when she was crying over Lily.

Emma barely nodded. "I think I'll just stay on in town and wait for her, if that's alright by you fine folks," August remarked, smirking. Graham didn't think Regina would be happy to hear he was staying in town indubitably. "Did you already make your way over to Granny's B & B?" the sheriff found himself asking.

"I was just about to head there, actually. Ruby here was telling me all about how to get a room there," the writer explained. Ruby suddenly blushed, and nodded over her shoulder at them recognizing her. "I told him I'd vouch for him with Granny," the waitress said with a saucy smirk, recovering from being caught eavesdropping.

"By all means, don't let us stop you," Emma said suddenly, rising from the table. Sheriff Graham followed suit automatically. If Emma was jealous of the stranger flirting with Ruby, it was even more complicated than he thought. He agreed it was about time they leave since they'd gotten the answers there were looking for. They departed the diner in a hurry, and Emma left fuming.

 ********** ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *********

"What was that all about?" Graham asked, strapping his seat belt into place outside. Emma followed suit and let out a heavy sigh. "He's an ex of Lily's," she lied. "He comes looking for her sometimes. He's a loner, a wanderer like us," Emma explained. "Is he dangerous?" Graham asked. What he really wanted to ask was _, 'You mean Lily wasn't always a lesbian?'_

"No, he's not a threat, not physically." Emma sighed, exasperated. "He has a way of breaking her heart," she said, which wasn't technically a lie. "When he left her, who was left to pick up the pieces?" Emma asked rhetorically. She left out the fact that he'd dumped the both of them at the border of this strange little town her son resided in, and hadn't turned back until now. Why now?

"Can you pull over?" she asked. She needed time to think. Graham did as she asked, and pulled over near the curb. The blonde got out, and her tight denim jeans hugged her waist as she leaned down to talk to him at his window.

"Can you finish this shift without me? I need some air, if you don't mind," the deputy asked. She looked at him with sad puppy dog eyes. She was acting so weird, he almost didn't want to leave her alone.

Almost.

Graham remembered he had to report back to Regina. He agreed to let Emma have the rest of the day off. He was used to going on patrol by himself, and he didn't really need her he'd been doing it so long. He had employed her because he wanted her by his side, and even if it wasn't romantic any longer, Graham still desired that. Emma was a good person for the job.

She might have humiliated him by rejecting him, but he had Regina, now. He could put his infatuation for Emma behind him. He didn't need to be so concerned about her. If she said this August guy wasn't a threat, then he had no reason not to believe her.

 ********** ONCE * UPON * A * TIME *********

Emma found herself walking towards Henry's school. It wasn't yet his lunch time, but she hoped to catch a glimpse of him out on the playground soon. She was standing at the silver gates near the school entrance when she heard the roar of the motorcycle. What was he doing, stalking her kid?

Emma's eyes instantly narrowed, and she knew when he noticed her because his bike came to an abrupt halt. He found a parking spot nearby, and got off the motorcycle. She couldn't help but stare at him across the street. The leather jacket he was wearing coupled with his tight jeans was enough to make her shift a little uncomfortably as he approached.

His gait was slow and leisurely. He had the pace of a confident man. As he drew nearer, Emma was overwhelmed by the scent of leather and men's cologne. It wasn't just the pleasantly spicy scent of the cologne that caught her attention. Something was different about him. He did smell sinfully good, but there was an absence of a familiar scent on him that she had always associated with him. What was missing?

"What's different about you?"

August was drinking in her beautiful face. Her green eyes were squinted in suspicion which he found so adorable on her. He understood more than ever the saying, _"Absence makes the heart grow fonder."_ He couldn't have looked away from her if he tried. His eyes had missed the sight of her. It was hard not to tell her how he felt right then, to proclaim he would never betray her when that was what was constantly required of him in order to break this damn curse.

"Can't you smell it?" the writer asked. This prompted Emma to lean in closer, which delighted August at her proximity. Almost a little too much. He took a step back, and smiled. "I'm sober now," he proudly said, holding out his hands as if to say _ta-da, here I am_.

She noticed the key chain to his bike keys did have a chip hung on it. Emma smiled a nasty smirk. "Oh, no wonder I could barely recognize you," she quipped, smart ass as usual around him.

August's face fell. "Look, Emma, I know you must have a lot of questions, but I couldn't help anyone in the state I was in," August explained, clearly anguished. He was begging her to understand, and Emma wasn't inclined to listen to him just then.

"Whatever, August. You had a chance to come back sooner, and you didn't," Emma growled. She had lowered her voice, noticing as she did that the school bell rang out announcing recess. Children were piling out the school doors to go outside and play. "Lily went looking for you, you asshole, and now here I am, the one stuck with you," she said.

Henry was among the kids, and he noticed his mother right away. Henry wasn't the only one. Mary Margaret came out of the building holding her lesson plan, and she noticed Henry heading towards the fence where Emma and some stranger were standing and they piqued her curiosity. Their conversation was cut short as the boy neared them.

"This is my son, Henry. Henry, this is a friend of mine from back in Boston, August Booth," she introduced him to her son. Henry waved at the stranger. "Oh right, I met you this morning," the young boy said. "Are you staying in town?" Henry asked.

"That's the plan," August replied. "Why do you sound so surprised?" he asked.

"Because no one ever comes here," Henry said with a shrug. He looked pointedly up at his mother. "You, my mom, and Lily are the only strangers this town has ever seen," the boy explained.

August smiled down at the young child. This kid clearly got with the program fast. He already knew something was off about the town, how secluded it was. If his book had done any good, August surmised becoming the young book worm's ally would not be that difficult. _The sooner, the better._


	19. Joy to the World Part I

_**A/N:**_ _Italics read as a flashback in this chapter. This chaper was so long, I had to split it into two pieces :) Hope y'all dont mind. Please leave any encouragement or constructive criticism in the form of a review, I would be eternally grateful. That said, enjoy!_

* * *

 **Chapter 19**

 **Joy to the World Part I**

 _"Jingle Bell Rock"_ played on the radio as Graham and Emma made their rounds. They made a happy picture on that frosty afternoon since Henry was off on holiday from school, and Regina was at work.

Henry sat between the two adults in the front seat of the cruiser with the biggest grin on his face. He always got a sense of victory at outsmarting his mother and getting the chance to see Emma. It made him feeling daring to include Graham in their escapade. It was their own little secret.

The trio rode out to his castle, but little did they know someone was watching them. A pair of blue eyes scrutinized the trio as they sat on the playground equipment with Henry, and he went digging under one of the installments.

He came back with a familiar item, and August stored the information away for a rainy day. Henry was carrying the book, and he was knee-deep in a new theory about the book. He claimed there was a man sulking around his school grounds who fit the description of the alleged Mad Hatter.

The two grown ups listened with non-judgmental faces and tried to look enthused. They were both very familiar with placating the kid, and Henry was smart enough to know when they were patronizing him.

He was surly when Graham and Emma dropped him off at his house. There had been a big rumbling in Storybrooke, the ground shook like an earth quake. The law officer's phones started ringing off the wall suddenly. The law was needed at whatever incident had taken place.

As a precaution, the adults rushed to drop Henry off at home despite his insistence that he should accompany them. "Come on now, Henry, it's for your own safety," Graham said, pleading with his young friend. Henry still managed to look crushed and despaired not to be included and let them leave in bad humor.

Not one to be deterred, as soon as he lost sight of their cruiser around the corner, Henry set off in the opposite direction. He would discover the source of all the hubbub for himself. He could be found walking down the roadside, somberly kicking twigs and rocks that crossed his path.

That was where he was, only a few blocks from his school bus's pick up, when he heard the sound of the stranger's motorcycle coming up from behind him.

"Hey kid," the stranger called out to him. Henry automatically corrected himself, _August_. This was a friend of Emma's. He could trust the stranger, he was sure.

"Yeah?" the young boy asked, turning around to face the sound of the rumbling engine.

"Where you headin', kid?" August asked.

"I was going to see whatever happened," Henry explained impatiently. He was practically itching to continue on with his investigation. The corner of August's lip turned up wryly, and he studied the young boy astutely. "Do you need a ride?"

"Really?!" the boy asked, excitement vibrating his very small being. His face lit up and a smile a mile wide stretched across his face. "Yeah, why not? It beats walking," August said, shrugging.

He reached into his side bag and removed a second helmet, obviously meant for an adult but it was better than nothing. He offered it to the excited little boy when he approached, and offered to stow his backpack in his side bag, "so it wouldn't fall off," he said.

Henry agreed and with a guilty sense of elation climbed onto the back of the motorcycle with August. It was exhilarating, feeling the wind whipping past them and the roar of the engine as August revved it to impress him. It worked beautifully, and Henry howled out how awesome it was!

Both his mothers would have him skinned alive for sure if they caught him. It made the ride all the more forbidden and fun. Henry wasn't happy when it was over so soon because they discovered a crowd gathered on the far edge of town. He hastily had to climb down from the bike, not knowing if his mother or anyone who could bust him would be in the crowd.

Apparently, there'd been some kind of cave-in. Emma and Graham were busy tying off police lines when Henry spotted his mother. It seemed it was just in time, because she had a contemplative look on her face as she looked down at something in her hand. No one but Henry saw it when she slipped the something into her pocket quickly.

Instantly, Henry's sense of purpose came slamming back into him. He'd gotten so caught up in the changes in his life, he'd neglected Operation Cobra. He realized that everyday he failed to help Emma break the curse, everyone was doomed not to have their happy endings. All because of her, the Evil Queen. She was acting weird. He forgot his mother's new found happiness, and his suspicions rose when she looked guiltily about the quarry to see if anyone had noticed her.

She noticed Henry.

"Henry?" she called out worriedly as she approached him in the crowd. "You shouldn't be here," she said, curling a protective arm around his shoulders. Henry tried to elude her touch, and stepped away from her. The bustle of the crowd made her forget him momentarily, and she looked about. Too many people. It was unsafe. She stepped up, and raised her voice to be heard.

"People of Storybrooke, don't be alarmed. We've always known this area had a honeycomb of mining tunnels running underneath it, but fear not. I'm going to undertake a project to rehabilitate the area and make it fit for city use," the mayor proclaimed.

"We will bulldoze it, collapse it, and pave it," she ordered. "Pave it?" Henry asked loudly, coming forward, instantly on the defensive. "What if there's something down there?" he asked.

"What's down there, mom?" he asked. "Nothing," she said firmly. She gripped him by his arm to escort him away from the danger. "You shouldn't be here," she said, a frown marring her pretty face.

"In fact, everyone, please! Step back," the mayor ordered, and the crowd started to disperse. Nothing so exciting about a sink hole, after all. Or so they thought.

 **********ONCE UPON A TIME*********

Graham was busy investigating the mouth of the cave. That left Emma in charge of crowd control. Henry rushed up to her since he didn't have long, his mother had told him to get out of there and go back home. He tugged on Emma's sleeve and she turned around, surprised.

"Henry!? What are you doing here?" She frowned and looked down at her son worriedly. "I thought I told you it wasn't safe, Henry," she chided him. "I know, I know," Henry rolled his eyes and leaned in close to Emma to whisper hurriedly to her. "You can't let mom pave over this cave, she might be hiding something!"

"Henry, what could she be hiding? You need to step back," Emma warned. Her voice was stern and she was gripping him by the shoulder suddenly. Henry was tired of being manhandled. He shook her off impatiently. "No! Listen! If we don't find out what she's trying to hide, it might be important!"

"Nothing down there is worth your life. I'll tell you what's down there, and none of it is safe," Emma said. She leaned down so that she was face to face with her excited little son. "You will not be going down there, Henry, promise me," she made him promise. Henry frowned and she could recognize a silent challenge on his face when she saw it.

"I mean it, Henry, it's not safe," she scolded him. "Promise me," she repeated.

"I promise," Henry sullenly said, feeling defeated. He just knew _something_ was down there.

 **********ONCE UPON A TIME*********

 _Later that night_

After checking on the slumbering pair in his mother's bed, Henry snuck out of the manor. He had a back pack filled with snacks and a flash light, and he silently slipped out the front door of the mansion and stepped into the night.

He started heading towards the end of the block where his school bus stop was, and the orange light of the street light illuminated August, his new friend, sitting on his motorcycle.

 _Once both his mothers made him leave the scene, Henry grew more determined than ever to see what the Evil Queen was so eager to hide. He knew there was something important buried deep down there._

 _When he told August about his suspicions, the writer surprised him by agreeing whole heartedly. He had been waiting, hanging back on his motorcycle to see what Henry found out. They struck a deal to journey down into the mines after everyone left, to go and see what they could find._

 _August gave him a ride over to Granny's. The writer was not prepared for how like a little adult Henry behaved. He was so serious, he barely acted his age. Already he was wise beyond his years. He seemed like a smart kid who was handling everything pretty well, considering._

 _They selected a booth at the back of the establishment. "Why are you so willing to help me?" Henry asked his mother's friend. He had ordered a hot chocolate while they waited for their food, and blew on it to cool it off._

 _"I like to help people, what can I say?" August said, feigning innocence. Henry narrowed his eyes at the adult. "There's more to it than that, isn't there? Why would you agree to go down there with me so willingly?" he asked suspiciously, hand creeping towards his back pack on the table beside them._

 _August darted a look at the back pack, which was partially unzipped. He could see the book of stories nestled just inside the opened zipper. "That story book of yours is something, huh?"_

 _"Yeah, they're good stories," the boy agreed, confused in the sudden change in topic. "How do you know about me and my book?" the little boy asked._

 _August looked calculatingly at the small child, and his mouth puckered in concentration. He decided to tell the truth. Anything less, and this kid would be onto him and out of here. He was, after all, Emma's son._

 _"Who do you think left the book for you to find?" August asked._

 _Henry's eyes grew wide with shock. "What? What do you know about my book?"_

 _"I know it's a book of stories," he writer replied. Henry was quick to sass him. "Aren't all books?"_

 _August eyed the kid with obvious annoyance for interrupting him. "Stories that actually happened," he continued, and that knocked the sassy look right off of Henry's face._

 _"You mean you think my book is real?" he asked in disbelief._

 _It was usually so hard to get any adult on board, Graham and Emma included. They might humor him, but he could tell they didn't really believe him. The only one that ever acted invested in what he was saying was Dr. Hopper, his first ally in Operation Cobra._

 _"As real as you or me," the writer said. Henry was excited at the prospect of another helper. "How do you know?" he asked._

 _August chose not to answer right away as Ruby the waitress drew nearer with their order. She arched a curious eyebrow at August, wondering how he had ended up with the mayor's kid, but thought better of saying anything._

 _She delivered their order and sauntered away, making sure to put an extra sway in her hips for August's benefit. He eyed her lustfully as she walked away, and Henry was oblivious to the look on the older man's face. He gnawed on a hot french fry as August leaned in close to him conspiratorially after she'd passed. "That girl that just brought us our order?" August started._

 _"Ruby," Henry said, naming the hot waitress. "Well, you might know her as Ruby, but her real name is Red," August said to the little boy. Henry's face lit up with recognition._

 _"Red Riding Hood! I know!" he said rather excitedly, glad someone else could finally see it. Red Riding Hood and her Granny had been some of his first discoveries. August brought a finger up to his lips hastily, indicating Henry to keep quiet. "Ssh, calm down. You don't want everyone to know, do you?" he asked._

 _Henry shook his head earnestly and made a gesture as if to zip his lip and throw away the key. "That's good, discretion is something you'll need for what we have to do," August said. Henry grew more and more excited at the idea of an accomplice. Finally, someone to help him try and convince Emma!_

 _"Are you here to help me with Emma?" Henry dared to ask. "Let's just say I'm a believer, and I'm here to help her see the light," August replied, and Henry's excitement grew as they made their plan for the night._

 **********ONCE UPON A TIME*********

August explained that someone like Emma needed proof. That's why the pair were on the hair-brained mission to find hard evidence to show Emma down in the mines. They needed to convince her about her destiny before she could truly break the curse, and this seemed one way of doing it.

Henry was convinced the key lay below in the mines that his mother was so eager to cover up. It was a foolish quest from the start, and it felt even more foolish when August heard the tell tale sign of the opening to the cave behind them come crashing down.

Emma was going to kill him for practically kidnapping her son. Not only had he stolen the child away from his home in the middle of the night, now he had trapped her only son down in the mines where it was very unsafe. _What the fuck was I thinking? Too little, too late._

He yelled for Henry, who was a little further ahead of him. The dust was settling from the unexpected collapse, and August coughed as he peered through the dust. He could just make out the yellow of Henry's back pack ahead.

"Henry, stay where you are!" the writer called anxiously. It wouldn't do to be separated. His sense of dread and impending doom became a constriction on his airway passage. He found himself choking, stumbling towards the young boy who by now looked very scared by their situation.

He stayed put where he was, and August practically crawled towards him. When he caught up, he staggered to his feet. They figured their best bet was to keep moving, away from the asphyxiating dust and whatever gasses that might have been unleashed.

Henry didn't seem as affected, being closer to the ground as he was. August hunched over and tried to pull Henry close, his arm extended and outreached protectively over the young boy's head in case of another collapse. Henry wouldn't admit it, but he was scared as he marched along with August, clutching to his leather jacket.

"No one knows we're down here," Henry said anxiously. "I'm sorry, August, I thought we might find some proof down here," Henry said. "I didn't mean for us to get stuck," he whined.

August was growing exhausted, and his leg was hurting him something terribly. He just needed to sit down for a second. He puffed in exertion, and finally Henry slowed beside him.

"It's okay, kid, shit happens sometimes," the writer said. "No apology necessary," he said to the young boy. "You said a bad word," Henry remarked archly.

"Who's gonna tell on me? You?" August asked mischievously, though the expression on his face was an excruciatingly pained grimace. "You're in enough trouble as it is, kid," the writer wryly remarked.

"So are you!" Henry harshly reminded the writer. "You're the adult, you're supposed to know better," Henry said, mocking what he knew the other adults were going to say. August chuckled. The kid had him there. "So I don't always know what's best, so sue me," the writer said unapologetically.

Their little banter back and forth served to calm Henry considerably. He found himself sitting beside the teasing, comforting adult. Since they were truly alone now, Henry felt safe enough to ask the question he'd been dying to ask. "Are you my dad?"

August sputtered. "What the hell makes you think that?!" he asked, forgetting who he was talking to. He sounded much harsher than he meant when he realized the stricken look on Henry's young face. Henry looked guiltily down at his knees that were dirty with soot. "Well, you just seemed like someone from my mom's past, and I was curious about you. She's never told me anything about my dad," Henry confessed.

August gave the kid a calculating look. "I'm sorry, but no, I'm not your dad," August answered the kid. "But I did know your dad, if that helps," he said to the young boy and Henry lit up. "What was he like?" Henry asked, the embodiment of the expression curiosity killed the cat.

"I think I'll let your mother tell you about him, since she obviously hasn't for a reason," the writer cautiously said. He wasn't going to be exposing anyone's secrets today, especially if this was some knowledge Emma was purposefully withholding from her son. He didn't blame her, as unfavorable as the circumstances were that he'd left her in. If she didn't think he was old enough to know, he'd let her make that call.

Henry wilted at this statement. August wondered how long it would take for them to realize Henry was missing. He started to sweat with panic, knowing they would accuse him of kidnapping just like they'd been worried about since day one. Now he was fucked, unless he found some way out before morning before the boy could be missed.

This thought motivated August to stand, and he started searching again with Henry for a way out.


	20. Joy to the World Part II

**Chapter 20**

 **Joy to the World Part II**

It was the next morning, Christmas Eve, that Regina started off the day in poor spirits. She yawned and stretched as she sat up in bed wearing a long, black satin nightgown with thin straps. She stood up and winced at the cold wooden floors under her feet, throwing on her white robe to go and check on Henry.

She went to his bedside and sank down on it to give him a Christmas morning kiss, when she discovered something was amiss. His blanket was drawn up over his head, and when she went to shake his shoulder, she grasped at nothing. She jerked back the blanket and saw that he had arranged his pillows to look like a sleeping form. Instantly, she was worried yet simultaneously pissed.

"Graham?!" she called out, screaming in frustration. She knew Henry had a penchant for running away, but things had been going so well lately! She thought he was over it. Tears of frustration and fear for his safety ran down her cheeks, and Graham came into the room on high alert in his pajamas. "What? Regina-" he started to ask, but when he rounded the corner he noticed her son's absence.

"Don't worry, we'll go look for him," he said. Graham went to her and pressed a sweet and urgent kiss to her forehead. "Get dressed, don't worry. We'll find him," he told her.

 ******* ONCE UPON A TIME ******

Their first call was to a very sleepy Emma.

"Where's Henry?"

It was a very abrupt question, and it jerked her out of her sleep immediately. She sat up in bed and started throwing on some discarded jeans laid out on the recliner nearby. "I don't know where he is, don't tell me you guys don't," her voice had a razor edge to it in her state of alarm.

Graham was on the other line, and Regina was ready to claw his face to get the phone from him. "Now see here, Emma, if you are trying to keep my son from me, by God, I will," the mayor frantically screamed into the phone, and Emma held it away from her ear as she pulled on a tight, white sweater.

"Regina, I don't know where Henry is!" Emma barked into the phone, raising her voice. "I swear I **don't** have him, but I think I might have an idea where he could be," Emma said to the frantic mayor, trying to get a word in edgewise. "Let me talk to Graham," she ordered the mayor.

The mayor was so beside herself, she did as Emma said and let Graham have the phone back. Emma told the Sheriff about Henry's beliefs about the mines, and he agreed it was the first place they should look. They agreed to meet there immediately.

 ******* ONCE UPON A TIME ******

As soon as the law officers and mayor pulled up to the site and saw the opening caved in, they phoned for the fire department. Of course Henry was down there. It was dangerous and he'd been told not to go there, which naturally meant that was the first place they should look. While they waited for the fire department, they combed the surrounding area with no results.

Regina's panic was visibly rising as the moments passed. The knowledge that her son might be trapped underground had her face drained of color, but her lips were pressed firmly together in grim determination. "We need something, something to punch through the ground," Regina said. The fire department had just arrived and was assessing the situation.

Regina peered at the crowd assembling helplessly, looking to anyone for suggestions. It was one of the townspeople gathered that solemnly suggested that they could use TNT. Regina found herself considering the idea, no other idea presenting itself to her at the moment. Emma was immediately against it, and was very vocal about her opinion.

"I may not have been a mother very long, but I know for damn sure that it isn't smart to involve dynamite around MY kid!" Emma yelled. "You are NOT using explosives," she urged.

"Well at least I'm doing something!" Regina hollered. "We have to get to him!" she sobbed. Graham came to stand between the two tense women. "Regina, I think that Emma is right-" he warily said, and Regina let out a frustrated scream. "I don't care what you do, just get me my son!" she wailed.

"Regina, you have to calm down," Emma said. "This isn't helping anyone," she urged in hushed tones. People were starting to look their way, watching the normally stoic mayor lose her cool completely.

"Oh please, lecture me 'til his oxygen runs out," Regina snidely remarked. Emma rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in defeat. She just couldn't deal with this woman. She turned her back on the hysterical woman. Regina was just about to angrily follow Emma and insist on the explosives again when her foot caught, and she went sprawling across the ground.

"What the-" the mayor exclaimed, and looked down. Her open toed navy shoe was caught in some kind of metal grate, or drain. There was dead grass and leaves strewn over it, but sure enough, there was a metal grate opening at her feet. They pushed the leaves aside and opened it, only to reveal a very deep elevator shaft. Emma stood at the top of it and threw an errant rock down, and they listened hard to see how far it fell.

It seemed to clang endlessly, and Emma looked up with some trepidation. It was going to be a long trip down. "It should be me," she asserted right away, seeing the grim determination in Regina's eyes. "He's my son, I should go," the mayor said with a tightly clenched jaw.

"No offense, mayor, but you've been behind a desk for years. Let me do this. Let me get our son," Emma said meaningfully, staring into the other woman's vulnerable and scared dark eyes. She was just a mother worried about her son, not so evil after all.

"Bring me back my son," she said.

 ******** ONCE UPON A TIME ***********

Graham helped to lower Emma down the darkened shaft. She had a bungee wrapped around her as she scaled the walls of the shaft, advancing farther and farther down. Before long, her flashlight started bouncing off a steel structure, and she raised her hand to cover her eyes from the glint.

"Hello?" she called. Her voice rang off the cavernous walls, but there were no responses forthcoming.

That was when August and Henry started to hear a feminine voice. They stirred from the places on the ground, resting briefly as they were. Henry definitely recognized his mother's voice. "This way!" he cried, urging August onward. They could hear her voice coming from a distance, and it worried August that she was so close. Didn't she know how unsafe it was?

At this thought, it was almost like he called it. He and Henry were running down a corridor, listening for the sound of Emma's voice. Henry was ahead of him, and suddenly, the ceiling started to collapse behind them and it was a race against time. Emma appeared at the end of the corridor, just shy of the elevator shaft, and stared horrified as the ceiling collapsed behind the two running boys.

"Mom!" Henry was screaming as he ran, frantic and fast as his legs could carry him. Emma had the elevator door shaft open, and the top hatch was open so that she could shove Henry through. She wasn't so sure about August running behind him, though.

Her heart raced as she frantically waved her hands, urging the boys to go faster, but August was so slow with his limp. It didn't look like he was going to make it.

At the last second, the boys burst into the elevator shaft with her and collided with the wall. Before the small area could be overrun by rubble and fallen dirt, Emma was hoisting Henry up through the ceiling hatch as quickly as possible. She climbed up next, and reached her arms down through the hole to help hoist August up next.

As soon as they were both safe, Emma yanked Henry into an overbearing hug. She had tears of joy rolling down her cheeks as she kissed the top of his head over and over again. She had thought he was going to die down there!

It was so surreal, watching the boys run from certain death at being crushed under ground. It took a moment for the adrenaline to ebb away and for her hands to stop shaking. August fastened Henry's bungee safety harness for her and she smiled gratefully, exhausted.

When they finally managed to get to the top of the shaft, it seemed almost the whole town had gathered. They cheered when Henry's head came over the edge, and Regina was the first one there to pull him into a smothering hug. Emma and then August climbed out after him. Graham helped her to her feet and told her good job, patting her encouragingly on the back.

Emma felt embarrassed almost. There were too many people around the quad area. She found herself gravitating towards the edge, and watched from afar as Regina and Graham scolded Henry for worrying them, no doubt. The gathering had taken on a celebratory nature, and she could spy Ruby hitting on Vic the car mechanic, leaning across a city vehicle's hood as she spoke with him.

Emma found herself looking for August across the quad where he'd disappeared in all the hubbub. _He has good reason to avoid me,_ Emma thought angrily. What the hell were they even doing down there in the first place?!

August was standing off to the side, by himself. He was sitting on someone's tailgate, watching the livery go on around him. Someone had produced a cooler full of beers. Emma stopped herself short of storming up to him, and took a moment to study him. She noticed for the first time that he didn't have a long necked beverage himself. She didn't want to admit it, but she was truly relieved he was there; alive, in one piece.

She was surprised to find him with her son, but if she really thought about it, she shouldn't have been. She was undoubtedly angry that he, a grown adult, had taken her son down into such dangerous territory, but somehow she couldn't stop thinking about how he'd cheated death. She couldn't forget the desperate look on his face as he ran hard, a step behind Henry the whole way.

She was glad he was alive. That was enough for now. The interrogation could wait for later.

 ******* ONCE UPON A TIME ********

Later that evening, Emma was standing outside Granny's leaning against her police cruiser. Henry joined her, smiling happily. Back at the quarry, his mother had learned her lesson- there was no keeping the boy from Emma. She could try and separate them, but she would only keep being the villain in her son's eyes. Regina lifted the ban on Emma Swan with a chip on her shoulder.

Henry was beside himself with the news. He took advantage immediately and told his mother he wanted to spend the rest of Christmas Eve with his birth mom. Regina and Graham spent some time alone for some much needed relaxation after their stressful day, worrying about the boy.

Emma let Henry turn on the siren as they drove, and they went back to her apartment with Mary Margaret. The school marm made them all hot cocoa and they sat down in the dining room area. Suddenly, Henry cleared his throat and asked the question he'd been dying to know.

"August told me he met my dad," Henry said to Emma. Snow's eyebrows raised in surprise, and she looked curiously Emma's way. She'd never talked about Henry's father before. This was news to Emma. She grit her teeth in annoyance. "Oh yeah? What did he say about him?" Emma asked warily.

"Nothing useful," the young boy sighed. "He told me I should ask you," Henry said, turning puppy dog eyes on his mother. "Can you tell me about him?"

Emma didn't like to extinguish the innocent, curious expression on her son's face. In fact, she was determined that he didn't need to know the truth the more she thought about it.

"I was pretty young when we met. I had just gotten out of the foster system, and the only job I could get was out at this diner right off the interstate." Henry came around her side of the desk to sit, intent on her tale.

"Your dad was training to be a fireman. He always got the worst shifts, so he always came in for coffee and pie. He'd sit at the counter and always complain that we didn't sell pumpkin pie," she said, rolling her eyes, taking a stroll down memory lane. "But he always came back the next day anyway."

"Did you get married?"

Emma scoffed. "No. It wasn't anything like that. We just hung out a few times outside of work, and well... life happened," she said. "His got better, and mine got worse. I got into some trouble and we lost contact for awhile. Then, when I found out I was pregnant with you, I tried to contact him. Only it was too late. I found out that he died, saving a family from a burning building."

Henry was saddened by this news. Emma looked thoughtfully at him, then leaned down so that she was even with him. She chucked him under his chin. "I know you like to say I'm the Savior, but he was the real savior, kiddo," she affectionately said. Henry smiled tearfully, sad for what he had never known and lost before he had a chance.

"Do you have anything of his?" Henry asked. "Something to remember him by?"

Emma thought for a moment, and then her hand raised delicately to her chest. Henry looked to where her hand rested, and he noticed the swan necklace hanging there. He waited with bated breath for his mother to speak. After a moment, she looked down at the small talisman fondly and then removed it from around her neck.

"Here, Merry Christmas," she said. "This was a gift from your father," she said, offering it to him. "You can turn it back into a key chain, if you want," she bashfully told him. Emma wasn't used to sharing what was hers, but for this kid's sake, she was willing to give him the moon.

* * *

 **A/N:** I hope you enjoyed this little addition right before the holidays! I apologize for its length, but we should be getting into some juicy details soon that I think should have been delved into in season one between August and Emma. That being said, I really appreciate all of your continued support, and would be eternally grateful if you left a review with any constructive criticism or ideas :) Let me know how I'm doing, y'all.


End file.
